Star Wars Breaks Box Office Records - one day total

[Catchawave]

Source: ComingSoon.net May 20, 2005


While Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith was expected to have a big opening, no one expected it to be this big! George Lucas' third and final prequel in the "Star Wars" saga earned an incredible $50 million from 3,661 theaters on Thursday alone. That's an average of $13,661 per location for just one day.

The $50 million opening, which includes $16.5 million from midnight screenings, blows away the $40.4 million opening day record held previously by Spider-Man 2 from 4,152 theaters, and it also marks the biggest single day ever at the North American box office, beating Shrek 2's $44.8 million from 4,163 theaters.

In comparison, 1999's Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace debuted to $28.5 million in 2,970 theaters and 2002's Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones to $30.1 million in 3,161 locations.

Released by 20th Century Fox, "Revenge of the Sith" was produced for about $113 million.
..end of article...

[MrScorpio]

1. Can you say, "A Billion"?

I know I can

[tjdee]

2. That's because it's been an almost thirty year cliffhanger!

I don't think it's really fair to compare this with other films.

What other film had a 20+ year buildup? It's a long time to wait for an itch to be scratched.

So whoopdee doo, it made a lot of money because people have been waiting almost a generation to see it!

I'll be interested to see how its numbers level off after the first two weekends. Will everyone have seen it already and be done with it? Or will it do well throughout the summer? Interesting to see.

[Catchawave]

3. Sounds like genius marketing to me......

...as if Lucas needed to make more money :) I think this is a testament to the solid fan base, those of us who love, unconditionally, Star Wars !

[Mutley]

4. "Released by 20th Century Fox..."

:puke: :puke:

Anything called Fox (except the animal) is EVIL. Damn, and I still have to see it.

[madrchsod]

5. i think

f 9/11 did better numbers with fewer sceens. that`s return on dollar and all that.....

[Catchawave]

6. F9/11 did amazing for the budget....

Here's some numbers:

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=fahrenheit911.htm