As 'Force Awakens' winds down, 'Avatar' remains supreme
The Force Awakens is finally winding down in theaters, leaving behind arsenals of plastic lightsabers and a trail of box-office records.
"The Force Awakens" is still playing in more than 2,000 theaters in North America and remains ranked in the top-five at the box office as it enters its ninth week of release.
"The Force Awakens" was by any measure a massive hit: a full-blown if prepackaged cultural phenomenon that drove moviegoers en masse to theaters in a way that some thought was no longer possible in an increasingly multi-screen media world.
"'Avatar' is sitting on top of that global mountain, looking down and saying, 'Just try to catch me,'" said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for comScore.
[...] the $4 billion investment Disney made when it purchased LucasFilm is already looking like a bargain, and the mammoth success of "The Force Awakens" in movie theaters is only part of it.
Most importantly, director J.J. Abrams reinvigorated the franchise with a crowd-pleasing, critically praised reboot that pulled in new fans and put in motion a profit-creating system of galactic proportions.
[...] Star Wars" may be passing "Avatar" in other ways.