Xavier Straub
Mr. Reuter
Economics- B1
January 11th, 2016
In a Galaxy Far Far Away
In a galaxy far far away the Rebellion is fighting off the First Order; but, right here at home this very movie has taken a memorable lift off. Breaking records both in the United States, and Worldwide such as: Highest Grossing Film of All time in the US (taking only 20 days to surpass that of Avatar’s 318 day journey plus a re-release in 2010), Fastest Film to Gross $1 Billion Worldwide (12 days), and Biggest Worldwide and Single Weekend Gross ($529 million). Even with these records being smashed it still falls in at No. 3 on the list of All-Time Gross (Worldwide) with $1.7 billion before inflation, although a lot faster than the No. 1 and No. 2. The next movie in the series is already set to be made in May of 2017, and if it goes the same way it did this time around, it will surely break more records, bringing in possibly more profit and revenue than ever. But, who says it will go the same way?
With the average movie ticket costing $8.61 plus tax, Star Wars: The Force Awakens has broken every weekend gross record ever since it has come out, except this last one. The weekend of January 10th, The Revenant starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy, pulled in a whopping $58.2 million in its debut across seas in China, compared to the $53 million pulled in by Star Wars: Force Awakens in its first two days in China. Also, in the year of 2015, Jurassic World profited $652 million within their first couple of months, compared to that of Star Wars: Force Awakens ($812 million); and to be fair the first Star Wars movie (1977) was released almost 20 years before that of Jurassic Park (1993). Meaning that, the Star Wars fanboys have been on this journey for nearly 40 years.
There are also rumors sparking of certain plot twists within the next movie (I’m not going to spoil anything, you can look them up yourself). If said plot twists are true, the fanboys across the world are not going to like that; and fanboys produce more than 75% of the sales brought in. 
All of this shows that movies are becoming more and more advanced, and more and more older movies are being remade, and those are the movies that are bringing in such high revenues. Although, the next Star Wars movie has the potential to reach the same level of success as this previous one did, if not better. But, with that being said, it is very easy to screw up on such a popular movie; There is always going to be a high expectation for this movie, people are going to want to see this and that, but if you don’t deliver, you might be S.O.L. Either way, the next movie will have a huge impact on our economy whether it be positive or negative.
Works Cited
"Average US Movie Ticket Price Hits All-Time High - /Film." Film RSS. N.p., 23 July 2015. Web. 11 Jan. 2016.
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) - Box Office Mojo." Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) - Box Office Mojo. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Jan. 2016.
Truitt, Brian. "'Star Wars' Runs Record Box Office to $812M." USA Today. Gannett, 10 Jan. 2016. Web. 11 Jan. 2016.
I enjoyed all the statistics and facts that you included in this blog post, they helped me to understand how big of an impact the new Star Wars movie made on the economy. I would have liked to see what impact the movie industry as a whole has on the economy, especially in different countries. In the United States do movies make a larger net profit than in other countries? From personal experience, it seems like cinemas are a major attraction in the US, however, I am unsure of how prominent they are in other countries. Also, I wonder if movies like Stars Wars are complements or substitutes for other new movies. On one hand, people could argue that they are substitutes because people will go see Stars Wars instead of the other movies. However, if people enjoy seeing Star Wars they might be more eager to see other new movies, making they two new movies complements.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very interesting post and the funny thing is that star wars already has very mixed reviews, some had too high of expectations and some were disappointed that the technology which was reused didn't look as good as it should have.
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you included the statistics because I really through that this movie was one of the best in the year. Even if there were some arguments around how well the film actually did. All of arguments that are different from how well the movie was to what each person meant. Star Wars was one of the best movies ever.
ReplyDeleteIt's surprising how fast that Star Wars was able to take in this much revenue, and surpass Avatar. I think that no matter what happens with the movies, they will always be able to generate that much profit. Especially with the new generations that may not have seen the older movies, this could spark new interests for years to come.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize how big this movie is and how much it has helped the economy. Normally popular movies like this help our economy, but since Star wars has been popular for so long, by making a new movie has all of the old fans even more excited about this movie which is what made it so popular.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I don't really enjoy Star wars movies but I still found this article very interesting because of all the stats you found. This movie did make a huge impact on the economy and the movie industry. Before the movie came out there was a lot of hype and advertisement going on which helped our economy.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good example of how the consumers have been waiting so long for new Star Wars and the expectations were very high. These expectations caused the new Star Wars to break just about every record for movie earnings. The following months will also bring in even more money in sales of other products related to Star Wars.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good example of how the consumers have been waiting so long for new Star Wars and the expectations were very high. These expectations caused the new Star Wars to break just about every record for movie earnings. The following months will also bring in even more money in sales of other products related to Star Wars.
ReplyDeleteThis was very interesting to me, and not only because I am the biggest Star Wars fan out there, far more of a fan than Jasper Fritz, but it was an interesting read, the revenue they're bringing in is incredible, it's already higher than all of the other Star Wars movies. Also boys basketball takes on the #1 team in the state New Berlin Eisenhower tonight at 7:30 HOME, I expect to see every single person there, or else.
ReplyDeleteNot to mention that Disney is doing the right thing with Star Wars making it more like a marvel type series releasing a movie every year with an anthology series coming every other year in between each main movie. For example a Rouge One coming out this winter and a Han Solo movie coming out in 2018. This will increase sales for Disney tremendously because no matter what people will come and watch Star Wars movies and people will pay to see them making it genius for the next couple years to come out with as many movies as possible seeing as that so many people waited for so long.
ReplyDeleteIm going along with what Brandon was saying that because of the anticipation for the release of the new movie that was one of the major drivers for the amount of revenue' brought in. Because of this it has helped the movie industry and the economy.
ReplyDeleteI think the high expectations and hype that advertisements bring really boost up the sales. I also think that series bring in more money because it makes someone feel like they need to see the next movie, especially with another one coming out in May 2017, it would be smart to continue this so more people would see it! It's really good for revenue and for the economy that they keep continuing old movies.
ReplyDeleteStar Wars definitely made a ton of revenue this past month, not only with "The Force Awakens" but with the rest of their movies as well. Many younger people who wanted to see this new Star Wars movie haven't seen the rest of the movies in the saga in a very long time - or not at all. This means that many people were purchasing the rest of the movies so that they could refresh their memory in order to not be confused when they saw the new movie. The Star Wars franchise made money in many different ways, but they're not stopping now - they'll probably make even more money on their next movie, and so on.
ReplyDeleteThere is no doubt that this movie was one of the biggest to be released in 2015. There was a lot of hype leading up to the premiere. Huge profits were made when this movie was released and it's surprising how much it has helped the economy.
ReplyDeleteThis movie was great, I saw it three time and I’d see it three more times, hard to believe it has been 40 years since the original trilogy came out. People went crazy for this release, dressing up, to alien makeup, and even doing their hair Leah style. The movies were sold out 3 weekends in a row. The merchandise sold so well, people were willing to buy the most pointless stuff they didn’t need just because it was Star Wars themed. As we patiently await the next installment of the new trilogy, it’s hard to guess what plot of the next movie will be due to Rian Johnson’s knack for plot twists.
ReplyDeleteI went to the movie on the second day it was released, and it exceeded my expectations. I really liked the way that they made Star Wars "modern", and didn't have the vintage feel of some of the earlier movies. Right off the bat, it was everyone's expectations that it would break movie records, whether or not the movie was good or not. I personally didn't buy any collectibles for Star Wars, but I'm sure TONS of people didn't which positively effect the economy. Star Wars Force Awakens had a movie budget of 200 million, and now I'm curious to see what the budget will be for the new movie. I look forward to the next movie, and good job on this article!
ReplyDeleteColin Marks
ReplyDeleteI always knew that the Star Wars films did well in theaters, and I have probably have seen these numbers before, it always amazes me each time I see it. I hope the next movies continue to do well, and I look forward to seeing the continued success of the Star Wars collection.
I knew that this film was going to be huge, especially since the amount of fans that Star Wars has gathered over the years only continues to grow - so I wonder how much more money the next installment will get; if it will surpass the force awakens or even earn it's way up to #1 in the fastest grossing films. There certainly is a lot of demand for Star Wars after all these years, I wonder if it'll ever die down...
ReplyDeleteStar Wars is a series that I use to be interested in as a very young kid. Its interesting that Lucas Film was capable of making such an interesting series capable of capturing all ages attention even with today's busy world. Lucas Film continues the franchise by producing the latest Star Wars movie and releasing the Star Wars game just in the same period of time. This was a great move because those who watch the movie are influenced to buy the game and vice versa.
ReplyDeleteI think that this movie has had so much profit because of the amount of people that the franchise has touched. Like you stated in the article the first movies came out in 1977 and then the prequels came out and many people didn't like them as much so they didn't make as much profit. No one can really predict how the fans will react to the new movies which could change the opportunity to make maximum profit. I'm very curious to see how the franchise will try to make the fans happy in the upcoming movies but only time will tell.
ReplyDeleteStar Wars is a good topic to bring up, it brought in a lot of people in every movie theater and they were all jam pack. I have never seen star wars, but I know that it would look like an exciting film to watch especially since my step-dad, my dad, and all others have seen these because they grew up with it. I heard that you do have to watch the first movie and most of them require VCR which with modern technology is almost extinct. They require that you pay more to watch the original one and other star wars movies. Overall this was a valid explanation about Star Wars and it definitely goes more into depth about the economy and how much they will make with the next one.
ReplyDeleteAfter the long wait for Disney to come out with a new Star Wars movie a lot of people will be willing to do whatever it takes to see this new movie. For the people that aren't the hardcore Star Wars fans they will need some persuading to go and see this movie when it comes out. Disney wants to show off as much of the movie as they can without giving up a majority of its content so that people will still go see it and not see any spoilers. With all of the hype of the new movie more and more people will want to go which means that Disney will be getting more money out of the movie along with the purchase of memorabilia and all sorts of Star Wars related things.
ReplyDeleteIt's very interesting to see how well Star Wars has done, and how quickly it has broken records; clearly, this movie was a major success. It would have been interesting to see some information on not only the total profit and records of the movie, but the economic impact of the new Star Wars merchandise as well. This new movie has created merchandise in every category from toys to makeup (Covergirl has launched a Star Wars makeup line with "light side" and "dark side" looks).
ReplyDeleteI think it was wise that the movie directors waited so long to come out with a sequel for this series, because I think it added to the profit that they made. Additionally to that, I think it would be interesting to find out the impact all the advertising for the movie had on its success. There was multiple media outlets used for advertising for the movies, and it would be interesting to compare those for this movie, compared to those of prior movies. Overall, great research and post!
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