The runs are too short and selective for it to be worth it, but the grosses are too big to ignore. I'd say to wait but we may get our first $400m from China in the next year.
FWIW Deadline's separated out China in their last two yearly film profit reports.
The prequels are a non-factor for anyone outside of the 18-30 range. Younger than that and Star Wars was never a phenomenon for them, older and the OT is still heavily enough ingrained for this to bring them back without thinking of the prequels. They've fixed their image problem completely in two trailers imo.
So no, $2 bn is not unrealistic.
$220m!
Not bad considering Paddington muted its MLK weekend boost which is critical for late legs, followed by SpongeBob.
It's also made twice as much money in 2015 as Interstellar which opened on the same day.
Nearby Movie Tavern is sold out from 4pm on tomorrow but only 2 showings so far tonight.
Obviously that kind of theater is more likely to be affected by Valentine's Day, but it's still cool to see.
I'm still finding AS's opening unbelievable, the factors in play only seem to get it to $60-70m. The other 20 is a true mystery, especially without 3D.
Zero Dark Thirty made 98.5% of its gross in 2013
The Kings Speech made 87% of its gross in 2011 and it was in wide release by Christmas
Silver Linings Playbook made 78.5% of its gross in 2012 and it was in wide release by Christmas