Star Wars: Episode VII

On tv tonight they said Disney got 60% of the profits, (Star Wars), the rest went to everyone else.

 

I think that's just a guess. The details on J.J. Abrams' paycheck came out, and I was surprised that he only made $7M plus .5% after the film made $1 billion. Given that, I don't think anybody got a big percentage. As far as I know, the only person on a Disney film to get a big percentage has been Johnny Depp on the recent Pirate movies. Disney is known to be, shall we say, very thrifty and economical.

 

Do you guys recommend seeing it in 3D? I'm going to see it again on Monday and have only seen 2D versions. I'm not really bothered by 3D to be honest.

 

I thought the character Finn was okay, but I'm not as crazy about him as most people seem to be. He had one or two too many "Will Smith" moments for my liking.

 

I saw both. While the 3d is good and in a few scenes the 3d really helped the movie, overall it was nothing spectacular and not necessary, especially for those not really into 3d movies.

 

I would agree - at least from the POV of someone who's seen it 2X, 3D both times. The 3D worked fine but it didn't seem "crucial" like it was for "Avatar"...

 

#2 on the All-time domestic list, it just passed Titanic!! next up Avatar. SW VII will be #1 by the end of next week. Worldwide I see it finishing in 3rd, for whatever reason Star Wars is not that big outside of North America.

 

"TFA" is now 7th all-time worldwide - after 16 days! That looks "big outside of North America" to me!

 

I meant in relation to it's domestic haul. It's currently 18th in overseas gross, $312 million behind Jurassic World (4th place). No doubt it's a huge financial success however I'll bet the execs at Disney are trying to figure out the foreign market and how to make Star Wars even more appealing outside of NA.

 

I think the points of the character were:

1) they needed a new "regular guy" character, an everyman who did not have special powers or mysterious relatives -- just a guy who wanted to do the right thing
2) they wanted a more diverse cast
3) they needed a catalyst for certain key plot moments (like knowing how to get into the Starkiller Base)
4) they needed a sidekick ("siiiiidekick?") for the lead heroine.

I thought Finn was charming when he needed to be, scared when he needed to be, heroic when he needed to be, and funny when he needed to be. No big surprises, but I think Finn was necessary to the story.

 

Well if Disney is tight, the 60% may be on the low side.

 

I would definitely try to catch it in true IMAX 3D. You reference your location as Melbourne so I'd go to the IMAX Theatre Melbourne. It looks like they have the new IMAX 3D 4k laser projection system and a massive screen at 102.0 x 76.1 feet (31.1 x 23.2 meters) in an auditorium of 478 seats. According to this article:

http://www.slashfilm.com/the-force-awakens-70mm/

it's only 1 of 14 places in the world using the new IMAX 3D 4k laser projection system. So since you really should check that theater out otherwise, why not go see The Force Awakens there?!

https://www.imaxmelbourne.com.au/session_times_and_tickets

Spoiler

It's particularly worth it for the following scene when it opens up from 2.35:1 to IMAX native 1.66:1.

 

I've been meaning to go see it at IMAX but tomorrow I'll just go to my local cinema. I will definitely catch an IMAX screening before the film's run ends.

 

I saw it in 3D yesterday, not IMAX, and it was great because, you know the scroll in the beginning is in 3D and stuff. But at some point, I forgot I was watching it in 3D, so I'd say it was a seamless experience. I might see it again in 2D just for the heck of it, but I don't feel at all pressed to do so.

I kind of liked the movie. Yet another "Death Star"-type plot, but Lucas made that film himself twice anyway. Given that I think the prequels are basically awful, and given that George Lucas has not proven to be the best of stewards for his own legacy/franchise, I think VII is nearly a 100 percent improvement over the state of Star Wars affairs pre-J.J. Abrams.

I saw the original Star Wars in the theatre when I was 10 years old, and it blew my mind. This one took me back a bit. When Han reunites with Leia in this one, my eyes got watery. In fact, my eyes got watery three times during the film. But, strangely enough, not when

Spoiler: Spoiler

Kylo Ren kills Han Solo. Though I can't honestly say I saw that one coming, even though Harrison has stated publicly a few times that he wanted Han Solo to die in Episode VI, and I always thought he'd make his death a requirement for his future participation.

 

On the other hand, there are 11 producers on the movie and 3 writers in addition to the director. And I would guarantee you the top 3 actors got a piece of the pie. And I would bet there are executives at Lucasfilm who got bonuses hinging on the performance of the movie. When a movie is on the road to $2 billion, I think even Disney won't care at that point. This one movie will pay for pretty much any bombs they can have this year.

 

I really don't know what to say here, I guess I have a choice of believing you or believing the person whose job it is to count this stuff.
I'm not making this up, it's not my opinion, I actually saw the report. Hi or low, whatever, means nothing to me.

 

Rule 32 of the internet: pics, or it doesn't exist.

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/rules-of-the-internet

 

Spoiler: This whole post is one big spoiler!

Well, that was certainly an accurate prediction, considering you made it in early 2014...

 

This movie didn't do anything for me, except I do like the new lead woman. Otherwise, it was just another "action" flick. The overall plot, with the ending, was soooooo recycled -- let's see, at the very end, we will have some guys flying aircraft and destroying a death star. Where have I seen that before? The fact this death star is bigger doesn't make it any better. I enjoyed seeing Hans Solo, but Carrie Fisher seemed almost comatose in her scenes -- snooze.

 

Well played. I'm getting so blind, I had to use a magnifying glass to read # 32.

 

I really liked the movie when we got to spend time with the new characters, whenever old characters were used there was a little too much recycling of classic lines to the point where I found myself rolling my eyes every few minutes halfway in. That being said, I know why they did it. I'd even go as far as to say that they were kind of obligated to throw as much nostalgia into it as possible as an act of redemption for that panned prequels. I'm looking forward to Episode VIII now that (hopefully) all of those elements that really pulled me out of the story have been exhausted.

 

OK here's one I found real fast. Go ahead and find something wrong with it, I'm done.
If anyone else is interested, there was a list when I googled it.



Star Wars: A Tidal Wave of Money Awakens

Kevin Drum

| Wed Dec. 16, 2015 1:52 PM EST

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I'm not sure why, but for some reason I got curious last night about whether movie theaters had to pay more to show Star Warsthan they do for other movies. The answer is yes:

Theaters are under extra pressure now because Disney is demanding a giant box-office slice: "well north of 60 percent" of each ticket, B. Riley & Co. media analyst Eric Wold estimated, compared to an average of about 53 percent for all films since 2008....Disney is also requiring theaters keep the movie playing on large screens for four weeks at a minimum, longer than studios generally demand, Wold said. And because Disney owns some of the world's most powerful film franchises — including the superheroes and animated universes of Marvel and Pixar — no theater wants to face the consequences of scuttling the premiere.

Over the next couple of weeks, I suspect I'm going to be asking again and again a question that's been on my mind for a long time: how did Disney manage to buy the Star Wars franchise for only $4 billion? Surely it's worth 20x earnings, and surely it delivers more than $200 million in profit per year. Right? What am I missing here?

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2015/12/star-wars-tidal-wave-money-awakens

 

Who out there could afford to pay more than $4 billion for the franchise and have the resources to capitalize on the investment? If you think about it, Disney is probably the only company that could hork up that kind of cash and make effective use of the franchise.

 

I would say Donald Trump, but he's kinda busy right now.

 

Maybe Apple, I don't know anything about this kind of thing. It overwhelms me when you talk about that much money...