'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' has some analysts saying that the upcoming film could break previous box office records. However, Disney executives are careful to lower their expectations despite the hype.
In an article by CNBC, an analyst predicted the 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' success noting that it may be bigger than Disney's past box office hit 'Frozen'. Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Rentrak, said that the film's release date in December may boost its earnings and possibly beat previous records.
He said, "I think most certainly it's going to break the all-time December opening weekend record. We've never had a movie in North America open with over $100 million in December and this will happen with the next Star Wars... That movie can play very strongly into the new year of 2016, where it's a bit less competitive than the summer time frame."
Another report by Deadline predicted that the new film may see the same success as billion-dollar cinematic hits such as 'Avatar' and 'Titanic'. Morgan Stanley's Benjamin Swinburne said that Disney's procurement of the legendary franchise may be more profitable as expected. He relayed that the film could earn $1.3 billion to $1.5 billion in the international market with the contribution of growing merchandise sales of about $3 billion per annum.
It my all be well for the future of Disney and Lucasfilm's newest venture. However, according to Entertainment Weekly, Disney Chairman and CEO Robert Iger opened up about not getting ahead of themselves when asked about the hype surrounding the follow-up for the 'Star Wars'.
He said, "On the Star Wars front, we know there is just incredible interest in this film... We put two teaser trailers out, and the response has just been enormous. Anything that moves gets a lot of attention, and the anticipation is obviously huge." He continued that marketplaces around the world, including China, had been receptive so far.
Despite this, he said there may still be other countries untouched by the hype. He downplayed his expectations by admitting, "While the [Star Wars] enthusiasm is, I think, rather apparent, we just want to be careful that the world doesn't get ahead of us too much in terms of the estimates, and we've seen them as well... We're making, at this point, no estimates whatsoever in terms of what we believe the film will do."
The Disney executive seemed to employ an ambivalent attitude towards their upcoming film instead of becoming overly ambitious and unrealistic.
'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' is an upcoming epic science-fiction film set as the 7th installment in the in the 'Star Wars' franchise. It will be released on December 18, 2015 under the direction of J. J. Abrams. Several cast members have jumped on board to reprise their iconic roles including Harrison Ford as Han Solo, Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia, and Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker.
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