Historic 'Star Wars' debut hands Disney another hit franchise

A boy dressed as a character from Star Wars takes part in an event held for the release of the film "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" at a movie theater in San Salvador.[Photo/Agencies]

A Reuters Breakingviews analysis last week calculated that Disney may be on track to triple its Lucasfilm investment and earn an average of $669 million off the franchise in each of the next six years.

Nostalgia, plus a carefully planned, months-long release of film trailers and character profiles boosted interest. Disney, which spent more than $200 million to make "Force Awakens," also created intrigue by keeping the plot largely secret.

Critics lauded the movie's throwback feel, doses of humor and the performances of newcomers Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Oscar Isaac. Audiences awarded an "A" grade in polling by survey firm CinemaScore.

Disney took steps to attract more women and girls to the series, including casting Ridley as the star and running commercials during shows such as "Keeping Up with the Kardashians." Forty-two percent of the weekend's domestic audience was female, Disney said.

"Force Awakens" could become the highest-grossing movie of all time, box office analysts said. "Avatar" holds that title with $2.8 billion in global sales.

The wild card is China, the world's second-largest movie market, where "Force Awakens" opens Jan 9. The last "Star Wars" movie in 2005 collected just $9 million there.

Disney made an effort to build buzz, placing 500 miniature Stormtroopers at the Great Wall and striking a deal to stream the six earlier "Star Wars" films through video service Tencent .