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From: upstill@ucbvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.movies
Subject: Re: Jedi six-day gross
Message-ID: <243@ucbvax.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 8-Jun-83 19:45:07 EDT
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.243
Posted: Wed Jun  8 19:45:07 1983
Date-Received: Mon, 13-Jun-83 10:05:19 EDT
References: ucbvax.177, <242@osu-dbs.UUCP>, <342@ihuxk.UUCP>
Organization: U. C. Berkeley Computer Science
Lines: 23

Re appropriate factors:  True, some theaters showing Jedi are
showing it 24 hours a day.  About 25 of them, I believe, out of
about 1000 prints extant.  The rest are probably on the same schedule
as theaters around here: six or seven showings a day.

True, the ticket prices are higher on Jedi than on most films.
It is a first-run movie after all.  However, comparison is fair, 
since the number of theaters showing the movie is lower than most
such blockbusters.  Superman II, for example, did $24M in a week, 
but in 1600 theaters.  I believe ET was in 1300 theaters when it had
its $25M week.  And Star Trek II did about $5.4M in a day when it
opened, but in something over 1500 theaters.

Let's face it: nobody's seen anything like this movie for 
popularity.  Add to the discouragement of high ticket prices the
inconvenience of standing in line for sold-out shows and what you
have is an incredibly popular movie.  Which is not, of course,
a tribute to the quality of the film so much as an indicator of
Lucas' skill as a hype-monger.  Nonetheless...

By the way, the 12-day total is $70 million.  They should break
even any day now.