Is there a reason some of you keep repeating this SW trend in the box office BS? When it comes to the OG trilogy, there were reasons why ANH did so much better. A big part of it was because ANH was in theaters for 18 months, or ~78 weeks. No movie since has gone longer than 52 weeks. People just weren't interested in going to a movie that had been out for that long continously. And more importantly, theaters weren't interested in tying up their screens for older movies that were slowly bringing in revenue, when they could make way for newer films that would bring in more revenue, at least initially. The beginning of increase in home video has a little to do with it, though the former point is the main reason. The movie industry, as well as society, was just changing. We didn't get to blockbuster opening weekends overnight.

Another important point is ESB did BETTER than ROTJ. Yes, ROTJ did $43.2M, only $4.2M if take into account ticket inflation for 1983, more at the domestic box office, but ESB did $82.1M more than it at the foreign box office. As for the Clone Wars, it was a poorly received movie that followed a poorly received movie. There's no shock there that it would be down. The 3rd one is considered the "best one" of the prequels, as well as being the lead up to ANH and the birth of Vader, of course it was going to do better than Ep 2.

There is no SW trend. TLJ is just doing poorly compared to what it could have done if it was a good film.

There were some wtf moments but overall was still enjoyable and entertaining.

But the shitty thing about the new trilogy im disliking a lot so far: Not enough/good light saber battles!! It's a dying weapon in the movie now and feels useless :(

People can hate on Episode 3 but that had an awesome light saber battle between Anikan and Obi-wan. Even if it had lots of twirls :P

The biggest complaint I’ve seen with the lightsaber battles in the prequels were that everything looked choreographed, like you could tell they were just counting steps.  With the sequels, the 3 lightsaber battles had a lot more raw emotion.  The OT also had similar emotion, however my issue was that Vader was always depicted much more fierce that he actually was.  He had a little stick fight with an old man and chocked a couple guys.  Rogue One was the first time that he actually looked like a villain to be feared.  That hallway scene was absolutely amazing and probably my favorite light saber scene in the whole series. I’m hopeful that in episode 9 we get an awesome rematch of Rey and Kylo Ren.

Fully agree! The original didnt make Vadar seem all that fearful.  Not big on reboots but I'd love to see the originals to see more of this kind of Vadar.

The extra 20 weeks wouldn’t have added much, nor made up the difference.  ROTJ honestly isn’t a great film, it’s also the reason why Star Wars will be forever a kids movie.  Had they used Wookiee’s instead of Ewoks, and had Han Solo died like he was initially going to then the OT likely would have gone down as the best trilogy of all time.  Oh well.  

At any rate, what you either are missing or don’t seem to want to acknowledge is hype.  PM sold more due to 15 years of hype, same with TFA.  Ticket sales were down last year for a variety of reasons.  And we’ve had 2 Star Wars films in the past 2 years that Star Wars fans didn’t like for various reasons.  So for TLJ to be the biggest selling movie of 2017 is quite impressive.  Now had the movie been better it probably would sell more.  But regardless of the quality it was never gonna come close to the sales of TFA.

There are a group of people that are remaking the Vader and Obi-Wan scene, there was a teaser trailer out a week ago and it looks Bad Ass.

There is one thing the TFA did not have the all star wars fans wanted.

Luke.

Star Wars fans did not get all of their waiting and dreams in TFA. They still didn't get their favorite character. The hero. The Jedi they all grew up loving. They didn't get Luke. This movie finally has Luke and thus the hype for it was near TFA levels. Toss on some Carrie Fishers untimely death and this being her last movie and if this movie was received well by fans it could have easily matched TFA numbers or beat them.

An extra 26 weeks NOW wouldn't mean much, but back then movies were slow burns. They didn't open huge and just performed steady all the way through. So, yeah, an extra 26 weeks would make a big difference. And we know it did. At 42 weeks, ANH was barely above ESB, only by ~$6M-$7M. In those extra weeks, it rose another ~$90M.

I fully acknowledge hype, it is you who does not. TLJ was so hyped up it only opened $80M WW below TFA. The backlash, and lack of repeat viewings from those fans, caused it to drop to ~$450M behind TFA in just 15 more days. Depending on how it tracks from here on out, it may actually fall to $750M-$800M behind it.  There's a reason Rian Johnson is acting the way he is. Disney isn't exactly thrilled with the results. 

Matched it? Doubtful, though not impossible. However, the movie would have to have been near masterpiece levels. Still, if it had just been good, I think it would have only fallen ~15%-18%, which the hyped up weekend shows it could have. That would put it at ~$1.7B-$1.75B. I think that honestly is what Disney was expecting. If it had been great, it probably would have only dropped ~10%-13%, or to ~$1.8B-1.85B.

Just a telling on how Star Wars fans have taken this movie.

2 years ago I was at the same New Years party with the same people there as was this year. That years, I bet 90% of our conversations were about the movie. Many saw it multiple times. It was actually at this party that I started to notice the flaws of the movie. It was a sort of running joke that we would complain about something and then follow it up with 'but the movie was awesome' You know like saying it made no sense that Rae could do this or that, or it was a clone of ANH, ect and then go "but the movie was awesome" and laugh.

This year, I have no idea if any of them even saw the new movie. No one mentioned it at all.

Heck, my brother was nagging me for weeks before release on when we should go. We didn't go opening weekend and he has not said anything since. He has yet to see it, I know that much. The reviews are spectacular. 90%+ right? Where is word of mouth? Nowhere. When other insane huge movies come out and set the world on fire, its in all conversations. Everyone was talking about Avengers, everyone was talking about Hunger Games, everyone talking about The Force Awakens, everyone talking about Avatar. No one is talking about the Last Jedi. It's not making it into everyday conversations with everyday people.