There can’t be many people on the planet who haven’t heard about the latest Star Wars film, Star Wars: The Force Awakens since its release in mid-December. The film, the first Star Wars installment released since Disney bought Lucasfilm from George Lucas in 2012, may well have been the most eagerly anticipated movie of all time and, as many expected was the one to smash Jurassic World’s box office record.
As early as summer 2015, some six months before it hit cinemas, The Force Awakens’ trailer was already Youtube’s most viewed over a 24-hour period, ever. The film, which features many of the original cast, is a return to core Star Wars themes and picks up the plot some 30 years following the Galactic Empire’s defeat. Now, a new threat in the form of Kylo Ren must be defeated by the next generation of heroes. Scavenger Rey, her cute droid and Finn, an enemy defector, join forces and triumph. So far, so good, but was The Force Awakens good enough to blast Jurassic World’s opening weekend success out of the water?
Released in summer 2015, Jurassic World stars Chris Platt as animal expert Owen, and is the fourth in the Jurassic Park franchise. Set in a luxury resort (called Jurassic World), it tells the story of genetically engineered dinosaurs who become too intelligent for holiday-makers to stay safe. The film had a record-breaking $524.4 million global opening and also broke the record for hitting the elusive $1 billion mark, doing so in less than two weeks.Released by Universal, Jurassic World achieved an astronomical $39 million in box offices across Australia and $1.7 billion worldwide during its theatre run. However, Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ opening weekend figures beat those of its rival. Globally, it took $529 million and domestically a staggering $248 million to Jurassic World’s $208 million.Two weeks after its 18th December release, the latest Star Wars episode had itself hit the $1.5 billion mark.
Currently, Star Wars has taken an astonishing $1.983 billion globally since opening weekend. A figure tantalizingly close to the $2 billion mark. One it is expected to reach by this weekend. Sadly, it will not come anywhere near Titanic or Avatar globally which took $2.2 & $2.8 Billion respectively. However Disney can gain some solace in the fact that Star Wars pipped Avatar domestically. Earning $900 Million at the box office compared to Avatars $768 million.
When it comes down to nuts and bolts, it’s the bottom line and the share price value that counts for movie-makers. It’s true that in this arena Jurassic World was initially the clear winner. In the seven days following release, Universal’s share price rose by 3.9%, while its profits at that time were at $7.99 billion with a $146.5 billion market cap. This is largely attributed to a snowball effect after a strong opening weekend spurred new viewers to visit cinemas across the US & Worldwide.
It didn’t take long however, for Star Wars to rally back against Jurassic park’s record breaking successes, bringing a 4.5% boost to Disney’s Dow Jones listing after news of imminent surpassing of the $1Billion mark his markets. Couple this with The Walt Disney Company’s profitability, which is already ahead of Universal with 24% to its rival’s 19% leaves Universal’s equivalent of $3.3 billion in the shade.
The question is, with both sequels already in the pipeline. Who will win the next Fight of the Franchises?
