Everyone expects Star Wars: The Force Awakens to open big, but no one expects it to be bigger than the purveyors of the biggest screens on the planet. According to The Hollywood Reporter, director J.J. Abrams’ December 18 release has booked EVERY IMAX screen in North America for one full month. That’s 375 to 400 screens all to itself, plus most of IMAX’s foreign screens as well.
The deal struck between Disney/Lucasfilm and IMAX is similar to one struck four years ago with Warner Bros. for The Hobbit trilogy, and will leave other large-format-worthy epics like In the Heart of the Sea and The Revenant stuck in regular multiplexes without the IMAX boost. Abrams has also shot a full desert chase sequence featuring Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and the iconic Millennium Falcon specifically with IMAX cameras to give fans an extra perk to pay the premium ticket price.
“Star Wars: Episode VII is the ultimate crossover movie — it crosses over to everyone,” stated IMAX Entertainment CEO Greg Foster.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is set 30 years after the events of Return of the Jedi, and features a new generation of swashbuckling heroes and shadowy villains, as well as the return of fan-favorite smugglers, princesses, and Jedi.
Starring Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, Kenny Baker, John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Max von Sydow, Lupita Nyong’o, Gwendoline Christie, Crystal Clarke, Pip Anderson, Christina Chong and Miltos Yerolemou, the J.J. Abrams-directed film will debut in theaters on December 18, 2015.
It will be followed on December 16, 2016 by Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Star Wars: Episode VIII on May 26, 2017, and the Han Solo anthology movie on May 25, 2018. No release dates have been announced for Star Wars: Episode IX and the third anthology movie.
