After the piss-poor opening weekend for THE LONE RANGER, every media outlet has been shouting about the JOHN CARTER level failure of Disney’s latest project. But, as experts have predicted, Disney has barely batted an eyelash. Why is the studio so comfortable? Three answers: Pixar, Marvel, STAR WARS.
While it may be more than $150 million in losses on THE LONE RANGER, the prospects for STAR WARS: EPISODE VII and beyond far outweigh this one bump in the road. Variety says that Wall Street investors have looked at the success of both IRON MAN 3 and MONSTERS UNIVERSITY to balance out THE LONE RANGER’s losses. Couple that with this prediction for 2015:
Credit Suisse’s Michael Senno expects Disney to generate around $733 million in profits from the seventh “Star Wars,” out in summer 2015. Film is expected to generate around $1.2 billion in global theatrical receipts, and more from consumer products and other revenue, Senno said. As a result, Senno set a new target price of $74 for Disney’s stock to eventually reach, helping boost shares on Monday.
While those predictions would put STAR WARS: EPISODE VII around fifth place on the best grossing films of all time worldwide, but it would still be nowhere close to AVATAR on the all-time domestic charts. $733 million in profits alone is an amazing number, but could we be looking at a possible contender for the highest grossing domestic film of all time? If any movie could do it, it would be a new STAR WARS.
If Disney does STAR WARS: EPISODE VII right and redeems the franchise from the lacking prequel films, EPISODE VIII, IX, and beyond could be in position to break even these predictions. While we are still a couple of years from finding out if these estimates are even close, I would say they are erring on the cautious side.
STAR WARS: EPISODE VII opens in 2015.