How is AOTC stacking up against the other SW films?

[Jedieb]

First Releases
Year Film Gross (2001)
1977 ANH $210,439,000* (Adj. for Inflation) $ 621,340,000
1980 ESB $198,000,000* (Adj. for Inflation) $ 430,840,000
1983 ROTJ $249,608,768 (Adj. for Inflation) $ 448,250,000
1999 TPM $431,088,297 (Adj. for Inflation) $ 463,860,000
2002 AOTC $300M???

Who'd a thunk it?o_O

[BUFFJEDI]

I just don't get it :(

[Lady Vader]

Must... go... see... AOTC... a... thousand... times... this... summer!!!

*Blinks*

Ok, that isn't gonna happen, but still, I hope my lil contributions of 9 bucks a ticket helps somewhat. :\

[Taylor Millard]

IT's gonna do more than just 300M I hope it does.

[JonathanLB]

You guys do make a difference. If the die-hard fans continue to support the movie, I assure you it'll make a difference when the weekends go down to $3 million or so. It could very well keep AOTC in theaters another week or two if the fans are still showing support. I know that sounds dumb, and there are only so many of us, but there are enough of us to create a $30.1 million opening Thursday, yah? So I thin there are enough of us to go back and help it stay in theaters at least a few weeks longer.

As I said, my personal guarantee is never to go one weekend (while I am in town) without seeing AOTC. I am also stepping up my efforts to see it more times in the next few weeks before I leave for Hawaii. I went tonight, I am thinking of going Monday, my mom wants to see it with me Wednesday, I may go Tuesday as well, depends on my mood. I want to go Thursday, while it is still playing in the largest auditorium. I may very well go all of the days of this week. A friend and I are planning on seeing it 4 times in one day, just for fun, and we'll do that probably pretty soon. My pace will not slow, and I will not stop seeing it at this exact same rate until it is no longer available to me in theaters.

Of course, I can only make a tiny tiny tiny difference, but a thousand people like me can make a pretty sizeable difference at least. How about 10,000, or 100,000? I know there are many SW fans like us seeing it a ton of times, we will help this film out.

Call me insane, or say that I am wasting money, but I am making a new offer that is on my AIM profile: anyone who wants to see AOTC with me does not pay for their ticket. I will pay the price. I am still going with many friends throughout the summer, and that will be my continued contribution too.

AOTC has performed well below the other Star Wars films, for the time being, but all is not lost. Think of it this way. How many people have seen and loved this movie? 90% or higher, and fans absolutely love it. So think about the video rentals and DVD rentals. How many people maybe were borderline on TPM, but AOTC will bring them back into the fold when they see it on video/DVD? So how many of those people will definitely be in theaters for Episode III, the final part? I think a lot of them. The potential exists for Episode III to make $450 million, absolutely. Is it going to be really dark? You bet. Is it going to discourage some repeat viewings? Of course. Are Star Wars fans still going to see it a lot of times? Do Taun-Tauns stink?!!?! Of course! lol. It's a matter of getting the whole of the general public back into theaters, and I think that is possible so long as AOTC enjoys some excellent rental numbers. That could very well be our redemption. The number of people who have missed this movie or will miss this movie in theaters is significant enough to generate some pretty awesome rental figures and I would bet a lot of the people are going to realize what they missed and they won't want to wait 8 months after Episode III comes out to see what happens to Anakin. They'll want to know as soon as they can! Plus the fact it's the last Star Wars film.

Either way, Episode III will rock so I don't care, but I think all is not lost. You never know what a Star Wars movie is going to do before it comes out, AOTC should be proof enough of that.

[JMK]

Geez, does Jedieb's figures make AotC stick out like a sore thumb or what???

[CMJ]

It really does...other than ANH all the others fit very nicely into the 400M range. (BTW: Nice research Eb!). Now AOTC might not even hit 300M. Most distressing.

[Jedieb]

Thanks CMJ, I did that awhile back. Off the top of my head I can't remember if that ANH gross is 77 & 78 combined or just 77. I'm pretty sure I combined it because many theaters kept ANH playing for over a year. There was a big push again in 78, but many places just added screens. ANH & ESB took some work. Here's what I find interesting;

ESB's gross = 69.34% of ANH's gross
69.34% of TPM's adjusted gross is.... $321,640,524

That's pretty close to what AOTC will end up at. I use to think that the SW films might play out this way. Kind of eerie isn't it? Almost as if their B.O. fates were almost predetermined... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

[CMJ]

Man...that is true Eb. So I guess Ep. III might make around 320M too then? Hmmmm....over yet this is not. ;)

[JMK]

Boy are we going to have a hard time predicting Episode 3. Will the fact that its the last one give it a huge boost, or will its dark tone and "perception of failure" of TPM and AotC bring it down?

[CMJ]

This is an excerpt from David Poland's column today.

*****************************

Attack of the Clones not only dropped an estimated 57 percent, but its weekend trajectory, with a big Saturday bump between a soft Friday and Sunday, suggests that the film is now playing very, very young and that the adult audience has moved along, thank you. So I should say…

I WAS WRONG!

Clones will not overtake Spider-Man at the box office, at least not domestically. Spider-Man should squeak by the $400 million mark, while Clones faces a real challenge in passing the $300 million mark.

Of course, the Lucas bashers will now use this as their cudgel of choice in beating Lucas up as we round the final turn into Episode III. This after shrilly screaming that the box office for The Phantom Menace meant nothing… Russian peasants and all that blather. I can hear the argument now. “This time the audiences got hip to Lucas’ failings.” “But didn’t you like Clones a lot better than Phantom Menace?” “Yeah, but it still sucked.” “So George has lost his power over the audience?” “Yes… they got smarter... they saw through his fog.” “But they rejected About A Boy.” “ George’s fault. Another reason to hate him” “So, I guess Episode III will open to under $40 million?” “No… it’ll be the biggest of all three… people will just drag themselves out, like rats sniffing for cheese.” “I thought they got smarter?” “Uh…. you know unless George brings on Chris Nolan, it’s going to suck.” “But the audie…” “George is up there in his castle…” “Didn’t you say that Clones’ box office proved that Lucas sucks.” “Yeah.” “So Spider-Man is the best film of the year and Clones is the second best, because now you are claiming that audiences know?” “-DO-NOT-SWEAR--DO-NOT-SWEAR--DO-NOT-SWEAR--DO-NOT-SWEAR- you.” “-DO-NOT-SWEAR--DO-NOT-SWEAR--DO-NOT-SWEAR--DO-NOT-SWEAR- you.”

The irony is that there is almost unilateral agreement than Clones is better than Menace, yet it will be less successful. I will entertain your answers to this unanswerable problem.

[Mu Satach]

How about:

Combine the fact that this time we know when the DVD is coming out as opposed to last time we only knew the VHS was coming out

Plus

there seemed to be somewhat less anticipation for it enmass

AND

A shyte load less marketing this time around.

In 99 we had the horrible Pepsi alien comercials playing almost 24/7, the massive TacoBell tie-in and just about everywhere you turned there was TPM selling something.

This time I've only seen the cereal and potato chips. I practically have to look for AOTC related stuff when last time it was EVERYWHERE.

I hate to say it but the mass public are sheep. They're not seeing AOTC stuff so they are not thinking AOTC, whereas Spidey stuff is all over the damn place.

[edit - removed Dan Quayle-esque spelling error. :p]

[darth_mcbain]

I agree with the marketing thing... I was looking at the ad in my local paper for the AOTC movie listing - it was probably about the smallest ad amongst the movies... The others were splashed all over the movie page, and SW just had a small ad. That, plus there are just not a lot of promotions like there were in TPM, just doesn't grab the attention of the masses. I think marketing for TPM was maybe a little over the top, but it got people's attention. I think they did the right thing by scaling back some of the merchandising for AOTC, although perhaps they erred too far on the convervative side.

[Marcus Telcontar]

How about that people only felt the need to see AOTC once?

Look, marketing aint the only explaination, I believe it is believe that movie goers felt AOTC was good, just not worth a second look. It not novel. It's just not making people want to see it again.

Why?

Well, I have seen AOTC twice and unlike TPM I see no reason to go see AOTC again. To me, Clones is a decent and enteraining movie.... but it's no LOTR. It just doesn not have "It" that makes AOTC a must see again. Answer why people like me see no reason to see AOTC again, despite the fact it is a good movie and that will give you the reason why AOTC is doing not as well as we expected

[ReaperFett]

It's a sequel, they never do as well. Add in the fact there is competition this time, and that TPM was often seen as a dissapointent, and that TPM had more hype, and I can see why it makes the less. TO be honest, I couldnt care less, it made a lot of money and I enjoyed it :)


For the record btw, my cinema counts:

ANH: 0
ESB: 0
ROTJ: 0
TPM: 1
EP2: 3




And I don't even know if I'll get LOTR on DVD yet. LOTR dissapointed me, EP2 didnt (Which could very well be a hype thing)

[flagg]

I agree with Jonathan that the fans will really make a difference in later weeks. AOTC should hang around five million for several weekends thanks to the die hard fans still going. I also hope that all of you are buying tickets for AOTC even when you see other films. Don't think of it as stealing. Think of it as a fair redistribution of box office earnings :)

BTW, here's my viewing count for the whole saga at the cinema:

ANH: 4
ESB: 3
ROTJ: 3
TPM: 10
AOTC: 3 and counting

I think AOTC is the most rewatchable of all the films so far, so hopefully my viewings will beat those of TPM, if the film hangs around long enough . . .

[JMK]

-The competition this time is really hurting it.
-Negligible marketing efforts.
-It's a sequel.
-No 16 years of hype.
-TPM backlash.

All these things are killing AotC and I'd bet a fair chunk of change that GL changes things a little for Episode 3.

[Jedieb]

Man, I can't even remember exact figures for my OT theater viewings. I'd have to ask my parents, but this is a rough guess:

ANH: 3-5
ESB: 5-7
ROTJ: 5-7
ANH SE: 2
ESB SE: 2
ROTJ SE: 1
TPM: 4
AOTC: 4

[JMK]

ANH SE: 3
ESB SE: 3
ROTJ SE: 3
TPM: 22
AotC 3 and counting

[CMJ]

ROTJ - 1(first film I "remember" seeing in the theatre as a child, at 5)
ANH: SE - 3
ESB: SE - 3
ROTJ: SE - 2
TPM - 7
AOTC - 3

[Admiral Lebron]

ANH SE: 1 (Opening showing.)
TPM: 2
AOTC: 2 and counting.

[Marcus Telcontar]

ANH - 2, SE version 2
ESB - 2, SE version 1
ROTJ - 1, SE version 1
TPM - 5
AOTC -2

The only other movies I have seen twice in a theatre are Shrek (twice) and LOTR (6)

[JMK]

I think FOTR is the only other movie I saw more than once in theaters, and I saw it twice.

[ReaperFett]

EP2 is the only one for me

[Jedi Master Carr]

I have seen several films more than once: TPM 7 (3 times in dollar theaters I barely count them)
AOTC 3 (probably will end up seeing it 5 times I am not near any true dollar theaters)
Jurassic Park 4
ID4 2
Jurassic Park 3 2
LOTR 2
ANH (SE) 2
ESB (SE) 2
ROTJ (SE) 2


Also I am curious is there anyway to bring up the WW totals for all 5 films? I know only one of them are in the top 10, though AOTC will be there I think, so that means the other films did less than 800 million WW each right? If anybody can find the figures post them I am curious, I bet AOTC will beat all of them, except TPM, in real money and at least two of the (ROTJ and ESB most likely) when counting inflation.