"Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace" is the highest grossing "Star Wars" film to date, with a worldwide total of $1.02 billion and a domestic total north of $474.5 million. But fans and certain box office experts expect J.J. Abrams' upcoming "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" to not only blow that number out of the water, but also challenge James Cameron's "Avatar" ($2.78 billion) for the all-time record.
Is that a realistic projection? Disney executives don't seem to think so.
"However, despite expectations, it seems now that Disney is worried that it's setting itself up to be too big of a giant and won't be able to meet its own hype," Tyler McCarthy of The International Business Times wrote. "To help with that perception, Disney Chairman and CEO, Robert Iger, is clearly hoping to lower expectations."
Iger recently attempted douse the flames of excitement surrounding "The Force Awakens" just a bit.
"As enthusiastic as we are for what we know of the film, we have not seen a 'Star Wars' film - an original one - since 2005," he said at the company's quarterly earnings call. "And there are markets around the world that are less familiar with 'Star Wars' than, say, the United States, for instance."
Asia has emerged in recent years as one of the most crucial film markets for global box office revenue. Unfortunately for Disney and Lucasfilm, "Star Wars" is not as ingrained as a pop culture classic in those regions as it is stateside.
In 1999, those in the business thought "The Phantom Menace" would dethrone "Titanic" as the highest grossing film of all time. But George Lucas' first prequel film fell more than $1 billion short of that goal largely due to an inevitable international stall.
None of this is to say that "The Force Awakens" won't be an insanely profitable movie. Lucas proved that even low quality films will rack up impressive numbers at the box office. But if Abrams can deliver a top notch "Star Wars" film, something he is more than capable of doing, than "The Force Awakens" should at least crack the top five all-time list. If "Jurassic World" can do it then so can "Star Wars."
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" will hit theaters on Dec. 18.
