Star Wars: The Force Awakens[1] continues its epic box-office run as studios prepare for the new year. In fact, according to Fox News[2], the film managed to gross a little over $88 million over New Year's weekend and continued to be the top earner for a third straight week. With the movie contin uing to crush box-office records, how close is Star Wars to catching Avatar as the top grossing movie of all time?
Domestically, Star Wars: The Force Awakens has already beaten out Jurassic World and Titanic, both of which managed to earn $652.3 million and $658.7 million, respectively. So far, the new Star Wars has taken in some $740 million in domestic sales, and it did so in only 19 days in theaters.
As far as Avatar is concerned, the movie currently sits on top of domestic earnings with $760.4 million. With only $20 million to go, it won't be long before Star Wars becomes the highest grossing movie of all time. This is particularly impressive given that Avatar earned $700 million after 72 days in theaters.
With in mind, fans can expect Star Wars to top Avatar over the next few days. Considering the movie's current pace, it might even take home the top spot in as early as two days' time.
Meanwhile, given the success of Star Wars: The Force Awakens[3], fans will be treated with additional Star Wars-related movies in the near future. Luckily, the questions of when and how many Star Wars films are on the way have already been outlined by Disney.
According to Entertainment Weekly[4], there will be no fewer than five upcoming Stars Wars films. The first Star Wars movie is set to be released on December 16, 2015. The film is directed by Gareth Edwards and is titled Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The movie will star Felicity Jones, Riz Ahmed, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Jiang Wen, Donnie Yen, Forest Whitaker, Alan Tudyk, and Mads Mikkelsen.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story centers on a group of Rebel fighters who are tasked with a secret mission. Their job is to infiltrate and steal the original Death Star plans in order to aid the rebellion against the Empire.
At the same time, the sequel to The Force Awakens, Star Wars: Episode VIII, is scheduled to premiere on May 26, 2017. Although plot details remain a mystery, the movie is directed by Rian Johnson and stars Mark Hamill, Daisy Ridley, and Oscar Isaac. The official title of the movie has yet to be revealed.
While fans will have to wait until 2019 for the release of Star Wars: Episode IX, fans will be treated with a stand-alone film for Han Solo on May 25, 2018. The movie is tentatively titled Star Wars Anthology: Han Solo, and is being directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Casting for the film has yet to be announced, but the storyline will revolve around a young Han and how he got into the business of smuggling.
Lastly, the fifth film to be released is titled Star Wars Anthology: Boba Fett. At this time, a director has not been named and no casting has been completed. The movie is expected to be released sometime in 2020.
If the studio manages to stay on time with all of these release dates, then fans will have the opportunity to see a total of five movies in only four years. This should be exciting to any fan of the hit franchise, especially considering there have only been seven Star Wars movies released in the past 38 years.
Tell us! Will you be just as excited to see all of the other new Star Wars films as you were to see The Force Awakens? Let us know in the comments below.
[Image via Disney/LucasFilm]
References
- ^ Star Wars: The Force Awakens (www.inquisitr.com)
- ^ Fox News (www.foxnews.com)
- ^ Star Wars: The Force Awakens (www.inquisitr.com)
- ^ Entertainment Weekly (www.ew.com)
