Context is important. 15% more revenue while playing in 9.5% less theaters with 17% less screens than JP2. Pretty good considering the first Jurassic Park was a bigger ticket seller than Return of the Jedi. Lost World was enormously hyped as the sequel. Also Lost World's first Sunday was before Memorial Day, meaning the Sunday acted more like a Saturday than a normal Sunday.

Flip side of this is that JP2 adjusted for 1999 is at about $82.7m through Sunday, so pretty close to the $85m estimate for a 3-day opening on TPM. But given the screen count situation and the fact JP2 had a holiday boost on Sunday, it's pretty impressive how TPM performed in comparison.

They do but nothing is really comparable to Star Wars in terms of uber geekdom. Batman has 100x the walk up business, though.

Tell the truth, TDS. Had ID4 opened on a Friday, it's total almost certainly would have trumped whatever Ep. 1 would have done. Even with inflation, that Fri-Sun TPM hypothetical total would have paled in comparison to what Spider-man did in 2002. Though I will tell you that I generally dislike and distrust BOM's inflator calculator, in 1999 dollars, it had ID4's 5 day total at $110m to TPM's $105m. In 2015 dollars, their 5 days are $182m for 1D4 vs $173m for TPM. Both almost certainly pale in comparison to Spider-man anyway.

Moral of story is even TPM wasn't really a market capacity film, so the idea that TFA will be one in 2015, in December of all months, is pretty silly.

Reality is that if both Independence Day and The Phantom Menace opened on a Friday, it is HIGHLY likely TPM doesn't even break the OW record in 1999 even with 3 years of inflation between 1996 and 1999. You know I hate it, but even Mojo's inflation calculator backs that up.

Sorry, but if TPM couldn't break the record in May 1999 before brand popularity was largely destroyed, it sure as fuck is not happening in December 2015.

What? TPM grossed more in five days than ID4 did in seven, and that's with INDEPENDENCE DAY essentially having a second Friday because its first Thursday was July 4th.

Just got tickets to Saturday showing. My opening weekend screening is now complete.

ID4 did 96m wed-Fri in 1996. Not rocket science.

How long are we going to argue about this lol? Do you actually think you are penetrating Excel's mind, The Dark Shape?

zwackerm, what happens is they both keep going until one of them has a distraction in life and forgets about it, then it goes down in WOKJ history as "the time that Excel thought Star Wars wouldn't do as well as The Dark Shape thought it would", and they bring it up annually as if it was this epic debate.

At this point Excel, it is just trolling. I don't think he will change his mind even if it opens to over 150 in December.

or 200m, or 250m, or 300m...

Well, he'll have to change his mind if it does that. His current rhetoric, despite his predictions, seem to suggest that it will not appeal to non-fans. Making $150m on opening weekend wouldn't be possible without casual movie goers.

Again, what? ID4 made $63m through Friday (after opening on Tuesday). It didn't hit $96m until Sunday.

ID4 had Tursday night showings starting at 7.30pm so it technically made 96m in 5.5 days.

TPM did make more over the same timeframe indeed.

ID4 had showtimes from 7:30 PM to 9 PM on Tuesday. Using the standard used today, those are "previews" counted towards the opening day/weekend gross.

ID4 w/ inflation stands at $182m at end of day Sunday to TPM's $173m at end of day Sunday. All any talk that "Tuesday was opening day" it just moving the goal posts. It's clear as day the objective eye that ID4 was more hyped and sold more tickets through it's 1st 5 days. There is a very high chance TPM doesn't even set the opening weekend record had it opened on a Friday if ID4 had opened on a Friday. ID4 probably opens around 8 which is right where TPM would have been w/ inflation.

LOST WORLD also had 2.6m in sneaks which by todays rule would be counted. It has 74.6m by end of Sunday. Sunday held great due to holiday weekend but some people may hae waited until Monday who would have otherwise gone over the weekend.

I'd wager ID4 does something like 32/82 opening day/weekend had it opened on a Friday, while LOST WORLD is probably like 75m. Phantom Menance probably sees an opening day of like 34m and totals 80-82m, about the same as ID4 but with inflation taken into considering, clearly sells less tickets.

If all things are fair, I dont think TPM sets the attendance record when it opens. Highly doubt TFA does it 16 1/2 years later when the brands rep has been ruined for a large portion of movie goers.

$11m from 7:30 to 9:30. It's more like 5.2 days. Common sense also says every penny of that eleven million still would have occurred Wed-Sun even without sneaks; sneaks which - by the way - would be counted towards Wednesday under todays (dumb) rules.

W/ inflation to 2015 dollars, ID4 sits at $182m by end of day Sunday compared to TPM's $173m. 9 million is a significant difference.

If you dislike the rules, then don't follow them. It's the only way it will change.

Actually, the ID4 previews startet at 5pm...

Good point, Excel. But literally the two pics are so close it doesn't matter.

They started early enough that when my mom took me to see it that Tuesday, we got out and there was still a healthy amount of daylight left.

(you lived in alaska)

I wish.

Still only the one IMAX showing on Thursday night sold out.

where are you located?

Chandler, AZ. The IMAX is in Tempe, not too far from ASU.