What ‘Star Wars’ Box Office Will Have To Do To Beat ‘Avatar’

Star Wars box office totals are likely to remain a hot topic of discussion now that The Force Awakens is poised to create distance between itself and one-time domestic record holder Avatar.

Ever since the Inquisitr looked at how well the film was doing and if it had a real chance of beating Avatar in a Dec. 27 piece, it seems other sites are focused heavily on the matchup (and will be so long as director James Cameron’s blockbuster continues to hold the $2.8 billion worldwide record).

In this site’s previous projection, which foresaw Star Wars: The Force Awakens finishing with around $3.5 billion worldwide, it was a matter of when, not if the record fell. Each day since, the Star Wars box office take has continued to create new milestones.

According to Box Office Mojo, it currently boasts the No. 1 domestic record with $686 million. That’s after 17 days, one of which — Dec. 17 — wasn’t a full day since showings only opened at night.

The next day was the first of full release, but using the 17 number as a conservative estimate, The Force Awakens is averaging $40.352 million per day domestically, and $41.423 million in foreign take. That’s a worldwide average of more than $81 million per day, and it is also counting Jan. 2, which has yet to have its numbers fully reported.

It also fails to mention that one of Avatar‘s biggest markets was China, and the film has yet to open there. It won’t until Jan. 9.

If the trend were to continue to hold — it won’t, as it has gradually dropped with each day, but if — the worldwide Star Wars box office would overtake Avatar‘s in about 19 days. Avatar played for about a year in most markets.

Considering that The Force Awakens has been widely embraced by critics and, more importantly, fans, with many flocking to it multiple times, it would not be unusual to see TFA with the same staying power as its predecessor.

The Inquisitr‘s previous report estimated that if TFA fell at the same rate that Avatar did from its first day of release in its first market to its last day of release in its last major market, then it could hit $7 billion worldwide (or $8.3 million per day using the same ratios).

That would be pretty much unfathomable, so to play it conservatively, the site cut the final total in half to arrive at its $3.5 billion worldwide prediction.

One thing is for certain, though. This Star Wars box office success is merely the tip of the iceberg for Disney, which paid George Lucas $4.26 billion for the ownership rights. Wired reports that Disney has already sat back and collected more than $150 million from the franchise’s licensed products alone through the end of 2015 (including toys, games, other ancillary products).

With a whole new slate of characters, old favorites, and some interesting new locations and events to draw from, that number will only get bigger as the series continues under Disney’s care. Furthermore, a second Star Wars film is set to roll out in 2017 — one of the smaller “anthology” films called Rogue One — followed by the as-yet-untitled Star Wars: Episode VIII in 2018.

That will be followed by at least three more films — untitled Han Solo and Boba Fett projects and, of course, Star Wars: Episode IX.

While you may not want to venture a bet on it at this point, it’s clear that by the end of The Force Awakens‘ historic run, Disney will have already turned a profit on its purchase.

But what do you think, readers?

Is the Star Wars box office take for The Force Awakens likely to dethrone Avatar from the worldwide No. 1 position, and if so, is it worthy? Sound off in the comments section.

[Image via Star Wars: The Force Awakens]