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SuaveSocialist on 05 January 2018
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thismeintiel said:
SuaveSocialist said:

Speaking of re-releases...

Star Wars (Special Edition) : 580 Million     http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=starwars4se.htm
Empire Strikes Back (Special Edition): 348 Million    http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=starwars5se.htm
Return of the Jedi (Special Edition): 353 Million http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=starwars6se.htm

All three were released the same year, so playing The Inflation Game makes less sense than usual.

They all had about the same time in theaters (Hope had a three-week advantage over Empire, Return had a one-week handicap to Empire), so playing the Theatrical Run Card is self-defeating.  Especially since they were originally planned to have equal playtime, only for Hope and Empire to be kept longer due to their unexpected success.

Home video players had pretty much identical levels of ownership from Jan-April (1997), rendering The Format Argument pointless.

There aren't many places left for you to Move The Goalposts.  All things being equal, Empire made only 60% as Hope, despite it having long since been recognized as the best of the Saga.

Assuming similar performance trends with Episodes 7, 8, 9, TLJ would only be expected to bring in around 1.242 Billion and it's on pace to top that.

1  Got links to prove those initial run lengths?

2Wait. You're talking about the Special Editions?

3 Why are you even bringing them up

4. in a discussion about the initial runs? 

5. Edit: He's also not reading that right. ANH SE made $138.3M in the US. ESB made $67.6M.  ROTJ made $45.5M.  WW ANH SE made $256.9M WW. ESB did $124.8M.  ROTJ did $89.3M.

Why, yes I do!
Star Wars (Special Edition): http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=weekly&id=starwars4se.htm

Empire Strikes Back (Special Edition): http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=weekly&id=starwars5se.htm

Return of the Jedi (Special Edition): http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=weekly&id=starwars6se.htm

2.  Why, yes!  I only mentioned it three times in my post that you replied to.

3. To show how Empire holds up in the box office in such a manner as to crush the failed excuses of "theatrical run" and "home video" that your OP mentions, plus the predictable-yet-irrelevant mutterings of "inflation-adjusted grossings" should you try to Move the Goalposts over there.

Turns out Empire could only muster 60% of Hope's box office might. 

4. The discussion isn't about initial runs.  The discussion is about how "The Fans Have Spoken" with respect to the box office (plus some rambling about Mary Sues for some reason, going by the content of the OP); I submit to you the title of this topic as evidence, so that attempt at Moving the Goalposts has failed.  Turns out the fans have spoken.  All things being equal, Empire fell far, far short of Hope, despite being widely considered  as the best.  TLJ is on pace to outperform it, despite conforming to the generations-long trend of the middle movie being the weakest in its trilogy.

If TLJ's performance disappoints you, so would Empire's by proxy.  Of course, the rational conclusion is that Star Wars movies have been behaving this way for at least 20 years and no one in the industry would be surprised by that.  Trying to spin the latest iteration of this generations-long pattern as a commercial failure is absolutely comical.  

EDIT 5. LOL! ESB brought in less than HALF of ANH using your numbers!  TLJ has already surpassed it!  How foolish I was to use numbers that presented Empire as strong enough to do 60% as well as its predecessor!  So much egg on my face!  LOL!


Last edited by SuaveSocialist - on 05 January 2018