Star Wars to be biggest ever box office hit

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'Star Wars The Force Awakens' tipped to biggest-ever local box office hit



Star Wars: The Force Awakens world premiere
by Dominic White and Max Mason
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is already shaping up to the second-largest, if not the largest, box office hit ever in Australia, according to cinema bosses, who expect it will break the $100 million mark.
Pre-sales for the hotly-anticipated movie, which premieres in Sydney on Wednesday night, are already over $15 million with Hoyts chief executive Damian Keogh predicting it will break the first-week box office record currently held by Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows Part 2, which grossed $29.3 million. Experts are predicting Star Wars' latest instalment will reach first-week sales of between $35 million and $40 million.
"The pre-sales and anticipation for Star Wars suggest it will be at least the second-biggest box office movie ever in Australia, if not the [biggest]," Mr Keogh told Fairfax Media.
"It is always hard to predict box office, but it would not surprise anyone in the industry if the movie did $100 million plus at the box office.
http://www.copyright link/content/dam/images/g/l/o/b/6/g/image.related.afrArticleLead.620x350.gloqcy.png/1450229495775.jpg <img src="/content/dam/images/g/l/o/b/6/g/image.related.afrArticleLead.620x350.gloqcy.png/1450229495775.jpg" alt="Director George Lucas, guarded by Stormtroopers, at the World Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Hollywood. The film is tipped to be huge at Australian box office sales. " width="620" height="350" class="lazy620x350"/>
Director George Lucas, guarded by Stormtroopers, at the World Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Hollywood. The film is tipped to be huge at Australian box office sales. Alberto E. Rodriguez
"Early indications from screenings in the US is that the movie lives up to the hype and delivers. There has already been talk of Oscar nominations."
Village Roadshow co-chief executive Graham Burke said his group's cinemas were putting on extra staff in anticipation of their biggest weekend ever.
"For example, our Gold Class cinemas on Saturday - three days out - have already broken a single-day box office record with advance sales. Based on the industry tracking and the bookings, it is going to be awesome," Mr Burke told Fairfax Media.
The current number two on the list of Australia's all-time box office hits is Titanic at $57.7 million, well below Avatar which grossed $115.6 million back in 2009 and 2010.
http://www.copyright link/content/dam/images/g/l/o/j/h/2/image.imgtype.afrArticleInline.620x0.png/1450219072713.jpg <img src="/content/dam/images/g/l/o/j/h/2/image.imgtype.afrArticleInline.620x0.png/1450219072713.jpg" alt=""Han Solo" actor Harrison Ford in Sydney last week to promote the movie." width="620" class="lazy620x0"/>
"Han Solo" actor Harrison Ford in Sydney last week to promote the movie.

Lucasfilm was bought from Star Wars creator George Lucas in 2012 for $US4.05 billion by Disney.
The original Star Wars movie, A New Hope, was released in 1977 and the series has grown to epic proportions to include films, music, video games, cartoons and countless forms of merchandise.
The Force Awakens is the first Start Wars film in 10 years since the final film of the prequel series, The Revenge of the Sith. Critics have often taken aim at the newer films which began with The Phantom Menace in 1999.
The Force Awakens is the first of six new Star Wars movies to be released at a rate of one per year, with a new trilogy as well as three other stories from the Star Wars universe.

It is directed by JJ Abrams, who also directed the new iteration of Star Trek. Anticipation for the film has been so high that when tickets were first released in October, more than $1 million in advance ticket sales went through in a few hours.



BusinessDay


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