For those of you who have been living under rock, this year we are going to witness two enormous “series-finale” type events. Yes, events and you’re kidding yourself if you think otherwise.
Think about this for a second. We get to see Avengers: Endgame and Star Wars: Episode IX in the same calendar year! This could be the most unprecedented showdown in cinematic history with each film guaranteed to light up the box office. More than $1 billion? Even $2 billion.
The real question is:
Which box office behemoth will reign supreme?
If you ask Disney, their answer would probably be, “Does it matter?”
Well, probably not to them since both Marvel and Lucasfilm are under the Disney banner. Not to mention, they also have films like Aladdin, Lion King, Toy Story 4, Dumbo, Frozen 2, oh and another highly anticipated Marvel superhero film in Captain Marvel releasing this year.
So yeah, I’d say they’re fine regardless of which film wins.
For us fans. it does matter and it is an intriguing concept to consider. This is no less than a matchup of box office titans.
Star Wars: Episode 9 is going to be a unique film to keep an eye on during its release. It’s not so much a question of if it’ll open big, but how big will it be? Due to the divisiveness and controversy caused by The Last Jedi, the interest will be seeing if any fans have jumped ship on the franchise permanently. It seems some of these fans took out their initial displeasure on the box-office takings of Solo.
A real shame too, because Solo was fantastic. (You may @ me now.)
The fact that Episode IX is a part of the main story line leads me to believe it will perform like a true Star Wars sequel, but should we expect TLJ numbers or The Force Awakens numbers? Somewhere in between? The return of JJ Abrams at the helm certainly doesn’t hurt box office chances.
Sure, The Force Awakens received some criticism about being a rehash of a story line already told, but overall fans seemed very pleased with the film as it went on to make an whopping $2.07 billion worldwide, including $936 million in the United States.
The box office numbers were fantastic for TFA, but the big indicator here of just how successful Episode IX could be is the TFA’s 87% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. That indicates that the vast majority of fans were satisfied with the story Abrams told and how he told it.
This is why having Abrams back in the saddle may be enough to pull some of those fans back on-board and restore faith in the franchise. For the record though, The Last Jedi made $1.3 billion at the box office so let’s not act like it was a box-office failure.
Episode IX is also being sold as a true conclusion to the Skywalker saga. This may be fans’ last chance to see characters like Luke, Leia, and Lando in a new Star Wars movie. People will turn out to see this film, if only just to see how the Skywalker story ends before Disney and Lucasfilm take the franchise in new directions.
Make no mistake: the fans of this franchise care deeply about this story and these characters. The box office numbers for Episode IX will more than show that.
PREDICTION: $2.02 billion
Avengers: Infinity War absolutely lit up the box office bringing in a massive $2.05 billion. This was a true testament to just how enormous this franchise has become, how much people care about these characters, and the stories being told.
That’s exactly why people everywhere were in such shock and disbelief by what happened at the end of that film. With half the universe “snapped” from existence, including some of our favorite heroes, people are going to be flocking to theaters in April to see if the day–and the heroes–can still be saved.
Enter Avengers: Endgame. You thought Infinity War was the biggest cinematic event in film history? Think again. Marvel is ready to one-up themselves with this film.
Bringing together the surviving heroes from the “snap” (as well as a certain female badass named Carol) , Endgame will see them try to reverse the damage Thanos created and sacrifice everything to stop him once and for all.
Sacrificing being a key word there.
Since the release of Infinity War, theories about what could happen in Endgame are everywhere. Some of the most predominate theories are that we will see some of our favorite, OG Avengers make some sacrifices to bring back some of the newer Avengers that were “dusted”.
The film presenting a high possibility of being the last time fans will get to see the likes of Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark Or Chris Evans’s Steve Rogers (most expect Hemsworth’s Thor to live on thankfully) gives the movie an automatic boost. Fans genuinely care about these characters.
On the same side of that coin, the events of this film will dictate and shape what the MCU will look like going into phase 4 and beyond. What heroes will be left and who will lead the Avengers post-Endgame. People will want to witness the end of the first story and beginning of the next in the greatest cinematic universe in film history.
So should we expect Infinity War like numbers? Less? More? At this point I see no ceiling for how high the MCU can go and to say people are invested in these characters and these movies would be an understatement. Infinity War broke records…but those records will be broken again very shortly.
PREDICTION: $2.35 billion
The battle of the box office titans will belong to Marvel when all is said and done. This will make a monumental statement in the film world. Fans want more superheroes, and less (slightly less) Jedi. Regardless, both of these beloved franchises are going to ignite the box office this year and we, as fans, are very, very lucky.
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