Movie lovers must be really pumped up as The Walt Disney Company’s DIS Star Wars: The Force Awakens will soon hit the theaters on Dec 18. Now the big question lies ahead of the release is, whether or not the movie will live up to expectations and cross the $2 billion mark previously reached by Avatar & Titanic.
2015’s Most Awaited Release
There has been a lot of buzz surrounding Star Wars ever since Disney announced the seventh episode. It is the first Star Wars movie in a decade. The last release was Revenge of Sith in 2005. The release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens will be a fitting end to Disney’s spectacular year.
Lucasfilm started the advance ticket sales from the month of October. A fresh poster of Star Wars: The Force Awakens was also uploaded on the official Twitter account of Star Wars. In addition, fresh teaser clips were released.
Disney’s unparalleled marketing ability has ensured that The Force Awakens is the most awaited release of the year — the movie’s trailers were viewed an unprecedented number of times.
Star Wars is returning to theaters after a decade. The Force Awakens picks up 30 years after Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. As the iconic space saga is 40 years old, the current generation might not be aware of the cult status it achieved. Hence, the company has resorted to aggressive marketing.
Biggest December Opening Ever
Per the market buzz, the movie is set to become the biggest opening ever in the month of December, breaking the record of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which earned $85 million domestically in the opening weekend of Dec 2012.
If we go by movie ticket seller, Fandango, Star Wars: The Force Awakens has already broken all records in advance ticket selling. IMAX Corporation said that it has sold tickets twice that of the earlier record. Disney has entered into a tie up with IMAX to release The Force Awakens on all IMAX screens across North America for a four week-long period, from the time of its release on Dec 18. Moreover, most of the overseas IMAX locations will be screening The Force Awakens for a month.
It will be difficult for Star Wars: The Force Awakens to break the record of Avatar, which became the highest grossing movie ever with $2.8 billion in worldwide collections. The second film to collect more than $2 billion was Titanic. However, given the kind of popularity Star Wars: The Force Awakens has seen in the past few month, we will not be surprised if it breaks the records of Avatar and Titanic.
Is Disney Ready to Take Off?
Disney, which shares space with Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc. FOXA, Time Warner Inc. TWX and Comcast Corporation CMCSA, has been tasting all the success at the box office with collections of over $4 billion so far in 2015. Similar to last year, 2015 is turning out to be a fabulous one for Disney as the movie business continues to post record-breaking numbers. Till Oct 7, 2015 Disney collected $1.4 billion from U.S. and Canada and $2.575 billion from the overseas market. Disney has touched the $4 billion mark for the three consecutive years. This is the tenth successive year in which the studio has exceeded the billion dollar mark.
Although in the past one month Disney’s shares have declined more than 7%, we believe this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company is set to fly high with the release date of the most awaited movie of the year coming closer.
Its holiday time and you all will be busy partying, shopping and watching movies but don’t forget to add Disney in your portfolio.
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