“Star Wars” is one of the most popular film franchises in American cinema, but it’ll open in international markets before it does in North America.
The latest installment in the saga, “The Force Awakens,” will open in France, Italy, the Philippines, and Norway on Wednesday among other overseas markets.
The international roll out will continue on Thursday with the United Kingdom, Germany, Mexico, Australia, Russia, Brazil and other countries premiering the film.
The American public will have to wait until 7 p.m. Thursday to be reunited with Luke, Han, and Leia.
So why is the Disney film opening at the box office in the United States last?
“It seems like it doesn’t make sense, but it does,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Rentrak. “Disney has been teasing the audience for over a year… Why not do it with the movie as well? Let people know, hey, you can see this movie, but you’ll have to wait a couple of days.”
Dergarabedian also noted that international markets not being tied to a weekend opening schedule, the use of social media globally, and even piracy could play a part in why a studio schedules a film’s opening internationally first.
“Often times movies were released overseas so that it wouldn’t open in North America first and then be pirated overseas,” Dergarabedian added. “Now it’s more a marketing plan.”
Other blockbuster films this year like “Avengers: Age of Ultron” and Universal’s “Jurassic World” also opened first overseas.
“This is standard practice over the last couple of years… it’s a momentum thing,” Dergarabedian said. “By releasing the film in these other territories, the buzz starts to make its way around the world very quickly. To go all in on day one in America and then release it everywhere else really doesn’t really make sense in today’s world.”
Dergarabedian added that global ticket sales often account for 70% of total box office for many big blockbusters.
In the U.S., “The Force Awakens” is shaping up to be a big hit for Disney with industry analysts predicting a record opening of $200 million to $220 million this weekend.
Away from the states, “The Force Awakens” looks to rally its empire of fans around the world for a big box office haul as well.
“This is a global film,” Dergarabedian said. “Everybody loves ‘Star Wars.'”
Disney did not immediately respond for comment on this story.
‘Star Wars’ blasting through ticket sales on Fandango
Online ticket site Fandango reported Tuesday that advance tickets for “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” has “obliterated records” on the site by “outselling all previous titles in the company’s 15-year history at the same point in the Fandango sales cycle.”
“After years of fevered anticipation, the biggest pre-selling movie in Fandango’s history finally reaches theaters this weekend,” Dave Karger, Fandango’s chief correspondent, said in a statement. “The box office figures and audience reaction for this exciting, shocking, and crowd-pleasing blockbuster will be staggering.”
Fandango also collected some fun data regarding the film by holding a fan survey on its site.
For example, fans are most looking forward to Daisy Ridley’s Rey in terms of new characters in “The Force Awakens,” and 86% say the film’s guarded secrets have increased their interest in the Disney film.
Monday, December 15 – ‘Star Wars’ ticket sales blast off as opening looms
The Force is about to be with us.
With just four days until “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” flies into theaters, ticket sales have taken off at the speed of light.
The Disney film accounts for 87% of all ticket sales on MovieTickets.com over the past 24 hours, according to data from the site.
The online ticket seller also reported that “Force Awakens” has sold more than double the number of advance tickets than Marvel’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron” and 20% more than Universal’s “Jurassic World” at the same point in those film’s sales period on the site.
This is an important figure seeing that “Force Awakens” has its targeting computer set on the biggest box office opening in U.S. history, a record that “Jurassic World” set with a $208.8 million debut in June.
Currently, analysts have “Force Awakens” projected for a $200 million to $220 million opening this weekend, but no one is really sure just how high the film will fly seeing that no one outside of the cast and crew has seen it.
That’ll change on Monday.
“The Force Awakens” will hold its world premiere in Hollywood on Monday night that will include the cast, crew, celebrities and some press. Reports have street closures for the premiere bigger than that of the Academy Awards.
For those unable to make it to the event, StarWars.com will hold a live stream of the red carpet starting at 8:30 p.m ET.
While the buzz for the film has been positive, the pressure is on director J.J. Abrams to deliver a film that pleases both fans and the House of Mouse. Disney bought the production company behind “Star Wars,” Lucasfilm, in 2012 for $4 billion.
“Oh, J.J. is terrified,” director and friend of Abrams Steven Spielberg told 60 Minutes on Sunday. “There’s a lot of pressure on J.J. to start paying Disney back for, you know, the franchise they bought from George Lucas.”
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” hits our galaxy on December 18.