2015 has already been a huge year for blockbuster movies. Furious Seven, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Jurassic World have each had their turn dominating the box office, raking in over a billion dollars worldwide a piece.
The final instalment of The Hunger Games, Mockingjay part 2, is still coming later this year and don't forget about James Bond's next highly anticipated outing, Spectre. Both these films are good bets to join the first three in the billion dollar club.
However one film looms large over all of these and that's Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The seventh installment in the epic space saga is being pegged by many analysts as a sure fire bet to take the crown and maybe even set some all-time records in the process.
Deadline believes that The Force Awakens can easily top the $524.4M global opening weekend set by Jurassic World earlier this year. Analysts are predicting a jaw dropping $300 million take at the US box office coupled with another $315 million overseas. A $600 million opening worldwide would easily be the biggest in history and would put Star Wars on pace to crack a billion in around 10 days or less, which would also top Jurassic World's record of 13.
The factors cited for these bullish predictions are the franchise's broad multi-generational appeal and timely Holiday release window. The film's marketing push has also been solid, as each new trailer, clip, and magazine feature continues to ratchet the hype levels even further.
There has been an awakening... #StarWars #TheForceAwakens
A video posted by Star Wars (@starwars) on Aug 27, 2015 at 10:00am PDT
Earlier today, the official Star Wars Instagram account gave us our first look at John Boyega's character Finn wielding a lightsaber. Finn was outed as a force-sensitive earlier this month at the D23 expo when a promo poster of the film showed him brandishing a blue tinted lightsaber. The short Instagram video shows him wielding it against Adam Driver's Kylo Ren.
To see the two square off, we'll have to wait until the film hits theatres on December 17.
