I still think the 2nd week gross is going to be alot higher then many will project. I know so many people (family/friends/co-workers) who are sort of scared off by the first weekend sellouts, crowds, week before Christmas shopping, etc.

Christmas is on a Friday, so you have the 26th & 27th that 2nd weekend for people to take their kids, and repeat business from fans like me (as long as its good).

Of course this means if the film opens to less than $200 million, people will declare it an epic flop.

The only thing limiting the weekend box office right now is available tickets. Almost all the shows in my area are sold out from Thursday night through Sunday. The only ones still available are non-3D showings that are either before noon or after 10pm.

i wish... i was lucky to get one ticket on friday. going by myself but fuck it

So, with all these sold-out shows, people will be getting to the theaters early to start lining up. Anyone have plans to check if there's a line the day before? Or getting to the theater when it first opens? I guess this is when reserved seating will really come in handy.

My ticket is for the 7pm show on the 17th in IMAX3D. Unfortunately, that screen doesn't have reserve seating. There is a Dolby Theater screen which does but by the time I got to the website most of the decent seats were taken. And I won't watch a movie from the front row.

Anywho, my plan of action is to check with the theater day before to see what plans they have to deal with early lineups. I will probably then show up first thing on the 17th and see how the line looks.

Contractual obligations are that if you take a movie, you have to screen it for two weeks. So they must not be taking on any of tomorrow's new releases?

EDIT: I suppose it's also possible that they don't have a schedule of what else they'll be showing next weekend besides new releases at this point. My local theater doesn't usually finalize the weekend schedule until Tuesday.

I doubt that's the case. Most theaters here only have Sisters, Chipmunks and Force Awakens listed because that's their opening weekend (they're listed for pre-order purposes), the other movies generally get listed on Monday of that week at the soonest here. It's the same thing on the 25th, you can pre-buy for Star Wars, Concussion, Daddy's Home, Joy and Point Break.

That said, it is impressive that 19 of the 60 or so Thursday night showings of TFA are currently sold out here.

As of now, none of the showtimes for the 18th are finalized yet.

I can tell you from Vegas' standpoint, TFA will (at least) be on:

• 7 large format screens (IMAX 3D, Cinemark XD, etc).
• 30 3D screens.
• 25 2D screens.

On the 17th, 34 showings are already sold out per Fandango.

Man I never realized Vegas had so many theaters, I'm out there the weekend this comes out, may catch it if everybody else is hung over and there's an 8:30 am showing nearby.

Palms has a 10:15am showing in IMAX 3D and an 11am (2D) showing in their "JBX" auditorium which has a surround sound system that will blow your pants off. If you need an earlier showtime, The Orleans looks like it'll have a 9:30am (3D) showing in their XD auditorium.

How many showings do they have to do each day for it to count?

I think it has to be the only film to run on a given screen for that two week engagement, so theaters will typically run it as many times as they can for the first two weeks, because they can't run anything else on the screen if they were to not play it, so there's no other way to replace the income. And since adding screenings costs nothing in the days of digital projection, even if it plays to empty theaters, it's better than limiting the screenings, because that just means they can't sell any tickets.

Pandora, Na'vi. It's not like Pandora is a new word.

I doubt a vast majority of people know Luke is from Tatooine, or the main characters' names from Jurassic Park, but then again, so what? Doesn't make an iota of a difference. A movie like Avatar doesn't accidentally make so much money. No one is putting Avatar up on a pedestal next to Star Wars.

But to see how well Avatar held up for months and months isn't just because people said "it's really pretty." I don't buy it. It comes in a very close 2nd behind Frozen in all-time Blu ray sales. It's a movie that made people warm up to Blu ray, much like The Matrix did for DVD. No one is telling you to like it, but it's obviously entertaining for many people.

And there's a lot of people out there who don't care about Star Wars, or have any interest in seeing any of the movies. True story.

there's a nearly empty showing at the AMC Garden State 16 in New Jersy (Tuesday the 22nd at 12:30pm). Should i risk the madness that will be mall shoppers or wait til it dies down a bit?

This will be the first movie i have ever seen twice on its opening weekend

There are morons already camping in front of the streets out here. They didn't get the memo that it's a reserved seating theater.

For what it's worth, my daughter, a first-grader, told me today that they've all been playing Star Wars during recess. I also noticed a few shirts on the kids during their Christmas program, when they were supposed to be wearing their best (some parents couldn't care less). This thing really might hit the high end.

I've noticed The Good Dinosaur's grosses are really low. I know the movie wasn't reviewed that well, but I would think it would have done better than that. I wonder if families are saving their money for Star Wars.

No, they're waiting for Alvin & The Chipmunks. It's going to slay.

Update: I was wrong. I was at this multiplex in person yesterday and they are having it on 3 or 4 screens. The reason their website looks the way it does is because they haven't settled their schedule yet.

Random thought:I wonder if the market for people who would see this [I]that many times in the theater still exists? As an experience you have to watch it in the theater once, twice, three times if you are hardcore and love it.

But isn't that core demographic who would potentially go see this also the same demographic who has the knowledge and inclination to make that 4th viewing a pirated viewing at home?

I don't think there's that much of a cross as far as people pirating a movie and watching it a 4th time; I tend to think those are mostly people who would never pay to see a movie to begin with.

They'll only see it multiple times in the theaters if they absolutely love it, in theory. Or is this going to be the next Phantom Menace where so many people liked it at first, but then supposedly hated it later on?

People liked TPM at first? All I remember opening weekend were groans and fellow students telling me to skip it and see The Matrix again.

Same here. Any enjoyment I had for Phantom Menace faded on the car ride home. Darth Maul was pretty much it.

I wasn't talking about anyone specifically here posting liking the movie, I'm talking about a movie that pleased enough fans to gross over $400m domestically in 1999, but yet nobody liked it. Right.