This document summarizes box office projections for several major film releases during the 2015 holiday movie season, including the potential to set a new record. It predicts that Star Wars: The Force Awakens will have the biggest opening weekend ever with $215 million. Overall, the season is estimated to bring in $2.74 billion, challenging the 2009 record of $2.9 billion. The James Bond and Hunger Games films are also expected to be major blockbusters.

1. Can the ‘Star Wars’ force awaken
a holiday record?
Geetha Ranganathan, Paul Sweeney, Joshua Yatskowitz
Bloomberg Intelligence analysts

2. Hollywood holiday record needs a ‘Star Wars’ show of force

3. The 2015 holiday movie season could set a record with a slate of
highly anticipated releases, including a James Bond film, the last
“Hunger Games” installment and “Star Wars.”
The season, which runs from the first weekend in November
through New Year’s weekend, makes up about 25% of the
domestic box office.
It’s Hollywood’s second-biggest season after summer.
Boxoffice.com estimates the 2015 season at $2.74 billion,
which may challenge the $2.9 billion 2009 record that
was boosted by “Avatar.”

4. Sony James Bond flick kicks off holiday season with $90 million

5. Sony’s new James Bond movie, “Spectre,” may take in $90 million
when it opens Nov. 6, en route to a projected domestic total of
$230 million. The movie brought in $64 million in its Oct. 26 debut
in the U.K. “Spectre” will help boost receipts for Sony, which is
trailing all its peers except Paramount.
James Bond films have grossed an average $219 million
domestically, adjusted for inflation, according to Box Office Mojo.
“Spectre” opens the same weekend as Fox’s “Peanuts Movie.”

6. ‘Hunger Games’ odds favor $134 million opening in series finale

7. “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2,” Lionsgate’s final
installment in the franchise, may bring in $134 million when it
debuts Nov. 20. The movie’s domestic haul may reach $348
million, slightly more than the last release in 2014, which
grossed $337 million.
Lionsgate scrapped its plans to release the movie in 3-D
domestically, though it could benefit from the format in
international theaters.
The three prior movies have taken in $771 million in ticket
sales on average at the global box office.

8. Disney ‘Good Dinosaur’ may be sleeper hit, fetch $257 million

9. Disney Pixar’s animated film “The Good Dinosaur” may take
in $60 million in its Nov. 25 opening. The movie may bring in
a domestic total of $257 million, according to Boxoffice.com
estimates.
Pixar’s earlier release in this year, “Inside Out,” has sold a domestic
total of $355 million, making it the year’s third-highest-grossing
film to date
Fox’s “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip,” which opens
Dec. 18, is projected to take $10 million in its debut and appears
unlikely to pose much competition.

10. Star Wars ‘Force’ may awaken record $215 million
December debut

11. Disney’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” may bring in $215 million in
its opening weekend Dec. 18, to make it the biggest domestic debut
of all time.
The record is held by Universal’s “Jurassic World,” which opened in
June to $209 million.
Star Wars” could bring in $762 million in its domestic box office run,
according to Boxoffice.com. Entertainment Weekly projected a
$3 billion worldwide haul, which would make it the biggest-grossing
film of all time, breaking “Avatar’s” $2.8 billion record.

12. Bloomberg Intelligence offers valuable industry and company data,
interactive charting and written analysis with government and credit
insights from a team of independent experts, giving trading and
investment professionals deep insight into where crucial industries
stand today and where they may be heading next.