ROTS box office and how it relates to AOTC

The latest Entertainment Weekly is talking about the 2005 summer box office and how everything is tanking,and people just aren't going to the movies. It says everyone is waiting for ROTS and even that is iffy. It reads "but in a distressing sign of the times,even Star Wars: episode 3-Revenge of the sith is being greeted with equal parts hope and flop sweat. George Lucas' last outing generated a relativelly dissapointing 311 million and was eclipsed by the exponentially hipper Spiderman"

I was wondering..is 311 million a dissapointment? What would they say is a success? 311 vs. the 100 million to produce it? it's still a success..i don't get it. There is 1 movie with 600 mil, nothing in the 5's; 5 movies in the 400's and in 14 movies with 300 mil. Return of the king is the highest 300 with 377; not that much more than AOTC. (and this isn't counting overseas) so what gives?

what does everyone think? was AOTC a dissapointment financially?

 

AOTC made $311 million domestically... I cannot in any way consider that a failure. Not for a Star Wars film, not for any film. CERTAINLY not for the fifth film in a 30 year old franchise. I'd like to see the latest Trek film make $300 million. Hell I'd love to see it make $100 million. THAT is a disappointment, not $311 million.

Entertainment Weekly loves to bash the SW prequels... they have since a few months after TPM in 1999 and yet they still put it on the front page of their magazine cuz they know it will sell copies in droves. That's the soulless media for you.

 

The article you referenced answered your own question. There was only one film in 2002 which grossed more money than Attack of the Clones. Of course it wasn't a dissapointment. As Stril just mentioned, EW likes to take pot-shots at the prequels whenever it can.

If anything, it should really be considered an incredible feat when your franchise is so successful that $300 million is slightly under your par.



Mace Windy,
too windy for spoilers!

 

I was thinking the same thing. These days any movie that goes into the 300's is a hit. I just find that a compelely arbitrary statement. Even though the SW movies are held to a much higher standard than most other movies; it doesn't take away from the fact it made a lot of money; coupled by the fact it made that money probably based on a sole demographic: repeat business of SW fans once the general public was done with it.

i guess after 3 years i get tired of all the ATOC bashing by media. I guess i should get used to the fact that the PT will never have the respect by people (critics mostly)that the OT does. (even though the OT was vilified when they first came out)

 

Since TPM was considered a disappointment, I think people thought AOTC would be the same thing.

But, with ROTS, it will be right up there with Episode 1 and Episode IV and totally destroy all box office records.

 

TPM may have been a critical dissapointment, but it certainly was not a financial dissapointment. By the time that the dust settled, TPM ended 1999 being the second highest grossing film of all time!



Mace Windy,
too windy for spoilers!

 

I just hope ROTS dethrones Titanic, even if the gross rank IS inflation adjusted.

 

"I just hope ROTS dethrones Titanic, even if the gross rank IS inflation adjusted."

Why? So it will make you feel better?

 

ROTS will never beat the 1.8 billion Titanic made. Star Wars fans arent teenage girls who will go over and over and over and over.

 

Nope, Star Wars fans are geeks that go over and over and over and over. It's not kosher to attribute a film's success to an obsessive fanbase, especially on a Star Wars board. It would be a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

 

"I just hope ROTS dethrones Titanic, even if the gross rank IS inflation adjusted."

The chance for that went out the window when the rumor that Leonardo DiCaprio was cast for Anakin was proved to be completely false.

 

Lobot, long time, no see.


The latest Entertainment Weekly is talking about the 2005 summer box office and how everything is tanking,and people just aren't going to the movies.

People have been saying that for years. Nothing new here. ROTS will do fine, but whether it is the leader this year, or looses to another film is yet to be seen.

 

None of the SW films has flopped. This one won't either, if only because of geeks like us who, whether we loved it or didn't, WILL see it at least twice. The rest are the types who watch event movies in general.

I saw TPM three times: once on opening day to get gut-punched by the suckitude of Binks and poor undirected Lloyd, again to confirm if it really was as bad as I thought or if it was just the result of my too-high expectation, and the last time I think just to accompany a friend or relative. So there's three from one who thinks it's by far the weakest of the six.

I saw Clones twice, I think. Once on opening day to feel the agony of the fireplace scene, and another...I don't know when. I think I saw it twice...

The event-movie crowd went to TPM in droves. Burned once, some of these passed on AOTC. That, comboed with less repeat viewings by SW fans, meant that fewer people saw the slightly superior AOTC, to the tune of about a solid $100 million -- a significant dropoff. That's why some say it was a "failure." Never mind that it's not about the film's business for Lucas as much as the merchandise.

I think ROTS is going to do about the same biz as Clones did or more. The buzz on it is already more positive, which means SW fans are probably going to see it at least as often as we did TPM, and the lack of any other event film for some time will cause some of that crowd to show up too.

 

It's a Star Wars movie. It's supposed to do box office bonanza.

Like a great sports team pre-determined to win the finals. It becomes a huge disappointment if they only just get to the finals.

The telling number is in the worldwide gross of TPM compared with AOTC.

TPM did $925 million while AOTC only did $650 million.

AOTC's domestic gross dropped by 28% while its worldwide gross dropped by 31%.

Factor in rising ticket prises and the drops are even worse.

After TPM, the demand for a new star wars movie had dropped.

As for the grosses of the OT. The only reason why Ep4 is the top grosser is b/c it had the most re-releases. Both ESB and ROTJ outgrossed it on first run counts.

 

"ROTS will never beat the 1.8 billion Titanic made. Star Wars fans arent teenage girls who will go over and over and over and over."

LOL, Star Wars fans also arent the over 35 set who will go over and over and over and over!

 

As much as I hate to say it, I don't think that RotS can match Titanic. I can't even begin to understand why that movie was THAT successful. I mean, worldwide it made almost twice as much as TPM, and domestically it beat it by almost 200 million! And no, despite what the media and their ridiculous standards for a Star Wars movie would have us believe, none of the SW movies flopped. If 311 million is a flop, then about 97% of all movies ever released have flopped. It shouldn't be measured by a different standard just because it's Star Wars. Any other film with that gross would be called a "monster smash hit" or something like that.

 

"The article you referenced answered your own question. There was only one film in 2002 which grossed more money than Attack of the Clones. Of course it wasn't a dissapointment. As Stril just mentioned, EW likes to take pot-shots at the prequels whenever it can. "

Minor correction, two films grossed more than AotC in 2002, Spiderman and LOTR:The Two Towers.

But 300 M$ is not a flop by anyones standard, at most it might have been a slight dissapointment to those that expected it to outgross TPM or even Titanic.

Regards
Nordom

 

It reads "but in a distressing sign of the times,even Star Wars: episode 3-Revenge of the sith is being greeted with equal parts hope and flop sweat

...what? The reviews are OVERWHELMINGLY positive. THat's odd that they would say that.

As for the BO for AOTC, that was not disappointing. I think they call it disappointing because it didn't take the year's Box Office. It's the lowest of the series, I think, but that means very little, since it still stomped all over other films. It's in the Top 20 grossing films of all time, isn't it?

 

I loved TPM and was disappointed by AOTC. I really don't think anyone should give a damn about how much money it makes because in the end, it's Star Wars and we'll all love it.

 

US Box Office


Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace - $431,065,444

Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones - $310,675,583

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope - $460,935,665

Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back - $290,158,751

Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi - $309,125,409


UK Box Office

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace - £50,329,399

Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones - £37,102,356


Non-USA Box Office

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace - $491,314,983

Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones - $337,600,000

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope $337,000,000

Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back $243,700,000

Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi $263,700,000


World Wide Box Office

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace - $922,379,000

Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones - $648,200,000

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope - $797,900,000

Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back - $572,700,000

Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi - $533,800,000

Source www.imdb.com


I think Revenge of the Sith will be biggest movie this year yes War of the Worlds and Batman Begins will make a lot but Revenge of the Sith will be King of the box office.

 

If I had to put my money where my mouth is, I'd say the movie does LOTR:ROTK type numbers AT BEST.

That's about $375 million domestic/$1.2 billion world-wide total.

Having not seen the movie yet and just making an educated projection from all the reviews, previous movies in the series, etc... I feel that after the first weekend of hype, ROTS will drop considerably b/c the writing/acting is what will ultimately bring it down and keep it from reaching the promise land, so to speak.

I see it doing about $350 million domestic/$900 million world-wide total.

 

What I cant stand about articles that have a BIAS, is they never take into account the overall picture:

While true that there was a decline in WW Gross from TPM compared to AOTC, there was also a decline (though not by a bigger margin) between Spiderman and Spiderman 2

AND...the BIGGEST "BUT" of em all...when ya factor into account the budgets including marketing..what we have here is this: In net profit, Star Wars TPM & AOTC made more money than Spiderman & Spiderman 2

WW Gross for TPM & AOTC-$1.3 Billion combined
WW Gross for Spidy & Spidey 2-$1.167 Billion combined

This victory for SW was helped due to the astronomical budget of Spidey2..$250 Mil!

GL did TPM for $130Mil and AOTC for $140 Mil...and if Box OFfice mojo is correct, he's bringing in ROTS for only $114 Mil (marketing $ not available yet)

And its also unfair for EW to compare, when Spiderman has been part of the American Culture at least a full decade longer before SW came into being. For me, its a stupid comparison....

I also predict at least $400 mil domestic for ROTS.


And I will never get the hate for Titanic.. I LOVE that movie, cry at the ending and am as far from a "metrosexual" type of guy as one can get... though I do like to coordinate and wear cologne when I step out..

 

I was reading the Time Magazine Article, and they loved it.

I think ROTS will be the highest grossing Star Wars movie besides ANH.

 

How is 300 million considered bad? Most movies today are lucky to make a quarter of that. Only big movies like LOTR SW and Spider Man make that much or more.