Ten years ago today marked one of the most notable trailer launches of all time – the full official trailer for “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”.
Lucasfilm said the clip was was viewed more than 112 million times online during its first 24 hours online, with a further 16 million viewers tuning in to watch the trailer on Monday Night Football in the US.
While trailers getting over 100 million views is a bit more common these days, back then it was quite rare.
At the same time as the trailer launched, advance ticket sales at US and UK cinemas went online and quickly obliterated sales records with ticket sites crashing under the high demand. Around $6.5 million worth of IMAX ticket sales in the US alone took place on a single day, while over $50 million was racked up in pre-sales.
The film ultimately went on to open December 18th 2015, going on to haul in $2.07 billion at the box-office – peaking at #3 on the all time box-office chart and currently residing at #6 behind the two “Avatar” films, “Avengers: Endgame,” “Titanic,” and recent Chinese animated blockbuster “Ne Zha 2”.
The trailer release also marked, arguably, one of the last times fan excitement for the franchise was so overwhelmingly upbeat. The film was followed by the sequels – the divisive “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” and the widely panned “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” which both earned over $1 billion each.
