Because you're presenting inflation-adjusted "worldwide earnings" by ignoring the context of how much more lucrative the foreign film market is today and in the 2010's versus the 1970's.
The Force Awakens was not the highest earning Star Wars movie. Adjusted for inflation, especially in the domestic market, the original
Star Wars still trounces it. You can only control for inflation meaningfully across one currency. For Ep9 to take in half isn't at all analogous because ANH was such a tremendous outlier. In fact, if you look at
only the initial box office run, it is believed by many to be the #1 most lucrative movie in domestic history, because
Gone with the Wind has had something like six theater runs.
www.boxofficemojo.com
Domestic Adjusted Box Office Gross, All-Time Rank
- Ep 4 = #2
- Ep 5 = #13
- Ep 6 = #17
Meanwhile:
- Ep 7 = #11
- Ep 8 = #44
- Ep 9 = #88
Furthermore, you don't seem to understand the expansion of the
potential worldwide market in 2015. The total screens across the world and the average ticket price have risen dramatically due to so much of the world outside the US developing rapidly in the past half century. Yet there is still a huge disparity. Consider that the average ticket price in India remains ~$1.50 today. So it makes more sense to look at total tickets sold.
There was between 4.1bn-4.7bn people in the world back in 1977-1983, and probably half the existing movie screens outside the US, yet the original trilogy still sold far more tickets than the prequel trilogy Kennedy headed in the domestic market. Going from 108m tickets to 55m tickets when there have been dozens of films that have sold more than 80m tickets is awful. Going from 178m to 94m when there have only been
two movies that have sold more than 143m isn't attrition reflecting poor fan retention. It just indicates what a freak outlier ANH was. And as I've shown, the original trilogy was far more dominant in the international market back then. So the ticket superiority would only swell if we considered international sales.
TLDR Cliffs: Ep7 was NOT the most successful SW movie by any meaningful metric.
The original trilogy was a cultural sensation. It captured the imagination of the world. It ended in critical and commercial acclaim. This sequel trilogy soured the brand, provoked a worldwide backlash, tainted the legacy, and alienated hundreds of millions of longtime fans at a minimum. It nosedived box office takes, especially in the domestic market, culminating in a film that was so expensive and so tepidly received that despite huge tax breaks it barely broke even-- possibly was even a loss for the studio.
There's a reason Disney suddenly called an
audible on its plans to churn out a bunch more SW movies in the theater and on Disney+. Because, in fact, that poster was right. The IP was beginning to tank.
manofmany.com
