Ajipon

We shall see...

Action is one thing, but don't forget the other factor: the KFC factor. I'm sure thighs and breasts sell. I'm hearing average Indonesian moviegoers saying that Ip Man 3 is better than TFA. Much better action! Mike Tyson! I really lost hope with TFA in East Asia now, with the exception of Japan. At this point I have to faith in the market that gives Furious 7 $370m. And to not be completely negative, yes nostalgia sells and there is definitely lack of nostalgia. Moviegoers here has no memory of watching the original Star Wars in theaters, and not even in 1980s in any format. The memory they have is the prequel trilogy, and I do encounter people who is unwilling to watch TFA because the prequels were meh.

Isn't it true though that all those OW record holders opened in Summer or not-December? We might have been blinded by the amazing 247m OW of TFA, forgetting that this is a December number. Maybe, just maybe, if this were to open in the summer, it would've been another unfathomable number. Then the multiplier would've reflected those OW record holders much more.

Thanks for the heads up! Heading there to get some numbers.

Oops my bad. Your name is so similar to Indonesian words. But at any rate, hello fellow SoutheastAsianer !

Hello fellow Indonesian (am I right?)! Can we actually know box office numbers from Indonesia? I watched TFA again in North Jakarta last Saturday for my fourth viewing. It only played in one studio despite the show being full even to the first row (and it was only the second weekend!). It had three studios playing Ip Man 3, but I'm not sure how well it performed. Then again, this is North Jakarta we're talking about - the audience was very quiet, only several laughs in some scenes. It's so unlike the scene in South Jakarta, especially on the first day. (Imax 3D weekdays were full for my third viewing) Meanwhile my friend in Surabaya reported that TFA showings there are quite empty after the first weekend. I guess TFA is only popular in some parts of Jakarta (South especially)...

One way SW 8 numbers can improve is the WW number, even if DOM number won't be as good. TFA's ratio of DOM/OS is very high compared to other blockbusters lately, although China remains a wild card. Maybe the ratio will be lower for the sequels. Especially considering Rogue One is released a year before that stars Donnie Yen to raise awareness from the second biggest market. Another factor is if Rian Johnson somehow manages to make a movie so critically acclaimed that comparisons to ESB are being made - and if it somehow satisfies some narrative cliffhangers left behind by JJ Abrams. The perfect storm of a critically acclaimed trilogy, aided with Rogue One and Han Solo standalone movies might just push SW 9 over Avatar finally: that is, if Avatar 2-3-4 haven't already broken the records then.

Don't forget Kylo's throaway line when he sends troops scouring Hangar 718 (?) for Rey - somehow he thinks/realizes that the longer Rey is running around, the stronger she becomes with the Force. I hope Kasdan is not painting himself into a corner here. Good thing is he still got two sequels worth of floor space to paint on.

If I remember correctly, gen. Hux mentioned that the target (Hosnian Prime) is a system far away from the base. I am guessing that this is an interstellar weapon, able to hit targets far away (although portrayed rather poorly). Besides, there are probably two hundred billion stars in the galaxy. Using just two or three or ten is acceptable in putting fear on the rest of them in their calculation I presume.

And that's why you need the Oscillator... *cough*

Thine, not thy.

Don't worry. When Han Solo fell into the chasm, he found the lost Holy Grail and healed his saber wounds.

Basically what you want is Darth Vader v.2, stronger than Darth Vader the original. I'm going to make a wild guess and say that you like Dragon Ball - the ever escalating villains, and the ever escalating action sequence thrills you. It's fine that you like it (and many do), but that was my biggest fear going in the movie. If anything, I find Starkiller base to be the weakest part of the movie. Kylo Ren is way more interesting for me because he's flawed and insecure. Now we got a chance to see him grow, together with the protagonist. Speaking of ever escalating villains, that is the biggest problem with all kinds of superhero stories with a long arc. Just like Dragon Ball, any other heroes with supernatural powers suffer the same narrative problem like Superman, or Marvel Universe (I read somewhere that in Marvel Universe, they finally are up against practically God with the gauntlet thing?). Batman is somewhat better since he's just human and the villains have more variations in their methods. And remember, Luke destroyed the Death Star without the aid of the computer on a fighter plane he was flying the first time.

I almost put a spoiler in the daily box office thread when I wanted to assert that Rogue One is an attempt to expand the Chinese market for ep 8 and Han Solo spinoff is an attempt to satisfy longing after his absence in ep 8.

The way I see it, Rogue One is Disney's (cynical?!? and smart) attempt to increase Ep 8 WW performance from TFA by expanding Chinese market - Donnie Yen, anyone?