《星球大战》新续集能否超越《原力觉醒》？

千呼万唤始出来。《星球大战：最后的绝地武士》（Star Wars: The Last Jedi）终于将在明天12月15日正式上映，个别幸运的卢克天行者粉丝，将在今天晚上参加这部备受期待的电影的提前点映。

经过近一年的舆论造势、广泛的市场营销和周边商品搭售，评论家们终于在本周早些时候就《最后的绝地武士》发表了意见，而结果几乎是一面倒的好评。现在，华特迪士尼（Walt Disney）和卢卡斯影业（Lucasfilm）将拭目以待，看看这部经典系列电影的最新一部续集在实际上映之后会取得怎样的成功。毫无疑问，《最后的绝地武士》在本周末的首映票房必将登上全球票房排行榜的榜首，但它能否超越2015年的前一部影片《原力觉醒》（The Force Awakens）？

《原力觉醒》在两年前引爆电影院，很快便打破了多项票房纪录，以2.47亿美元创下了美国国内最高的首周末票房记录。这部票房的全球票房超过20亿美元，美国国内9.36亿美元的票房成绩再次打破纪录。

有好莱坞跟踪机构预测《最后的绝地武士》的首周末票房将达到2.15亿美元（全球首周末票房可能达到4.4亿美元）。这一成绩虽然落后于《原力觉醒》，但也将使这部新电影成为史上第四部国内首周末票房突破2亿美元的电影。《最后的绝地武士》的首映成绩将帮助行业分析师们预测，其能否像《原力觉醒》一样突破20亿美元票房大关，或者只是更接近去年的《星球大战》外传《侠盗一号》（Rogue One）。《侠盗一号》在全球仅取得了超过10亿美元的票房成绩。另外，《最后的绝地武士》要想成为2017年票房最高的电影，还要超越一部迪士尼真人翻拍电影《美女与野兽》（Beauty and the Beast）（全球票房12.6亿美元）。

总体而言，2017年是好莱坞票房低迷的一年，与去年同期相比下滑了超过4%。《最后的绝地武士》如果能够取得与《原力觉醒》（在2015年12月18日上映至2015年底，共收获超过6.5亿美元票房）不相上下的票房成功，将给不景气的电影行业的年度成绩带来重要的利好消息。（财富中文网）

It’s finally here. Star Wars: The Last Jedi officially hits theaters tomorrow, Dec. 15, with some lucky Luke Skywalker fans catching early showings of the highly-anticipated movie tonight.

After nearly a year of build-up, extensive marketing, and merchandise tie-ins, critics finally weighed in on The Last Jedi earlier this week, with mostly positive reviews. Now, Walt Disney and Lucasfilm will wait to see just how successful the iconic franchise’s latest installment will be with actual movie audiences. There’s little doubt that The Last Jedi will end its opening weekend atop the global box office, but can this movie possibly fare better than its predecessor, 2015’s The Force Awakens?

The Force Awakens blasted into theaters two years ago and immediately broke box-office records, with a record for the biggest domestic opening weekend gross of $247 million. The movie went on to gross more than $2 billion at theaters worldwide, including a record $936 million domestically.

Hollywood tracking estimates an opening weekend haul of up to $215 million for The Last Jedi (the number could hit $440 million worldwide). That would fall short of The Force Awakens, but it would also make the new movie only the fourth ever to top the $200-million mark for a domestic opening weekend. The Last Jedi‘s opening bow will help industry analysts predict whether or not the film will reach the $2 billion mark, like The Force Awakens, or if it will finish closer to last year’s Star Wars spinoff, Rogue One, which grossed just over $1 billion worldwide. The Last Jedi also has Disney’s live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast ($1.26 billion globally) in its sights as it looks to become the highest-grossing movie of 2017.

Overall, 2017 has been a down year for the Hollywood box office, which is down by more than 4% compared to last year at this time. If The Last Jedi has a similar immediate box-office success to The Force Awakens (which grossed more than $650 million between its release, on Dec. 18, 2015, and the end of that year), then it would provide a major boon to the struggling industry’s yearly results.