The fans have spoken and the J.J. Abrams film, The Force Awakens, has just crossed the $1 billion mark in only 12 days! The only thing faster would be the Millennium Falcon’s navigation of the Kessel Run!
“It’s absolutely mind-blowing that ‘Star Wars’ could get to a billion dollars in 12 days and it hasn’t even opened in China, the second biggest movie market in the world,” said box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian, “It’s great for the audiences, great for studios and theater owners in particular who can point to this and say the movie theater industry is as viable and relevant as it’s ever been.”
The excitement of movie-goers is reminiscent of the days of 1977’s, A New Hope. It currently has a 94% score on RottenTomatoes.com and the “Oscar” talk has already started. This rejuvenated fandom for J.J. Abrams installment to the saga could be due to a number of well imagined factors. These factors would include a return to more practical special effects, and fun interactions and dialogue between the characters.
What stood out to me that I feel was one of the biggest factor in the film’s success was the numerous strong female characters represented in the film, most notably Rey played by Daisy Ridley. Traditionally, the Star Wars universe has been dominated by male characters, with only a couple of memorable female roles standing out. This is very much the opposite for The Force Awakens. I can see the impact of Rey’s strength in my own daughter. We’ve viewed the film four times, so far, and her favorite character (besides Luke) is Rey. She loves her independence, strength, and kindness. You can’t get the smile off her face during scenes where Rey “kicks butt”! Balance has been restored to the genders…
The Force Awakens continues on its path to become the highest grossing film of all time and I plan on helping that happen as I continue to see the film on the big screen (daughter in hand).
