STAR WARS would definitely compete against Harry

[fav's=mets&mickey]

Come Pod Squad.....are we all in agreement that Star Wars would definitely win against the Magic of Harry Potter.........Disney really has to do something. Even if they end up having to move something into lets say Epcot about Star Wars because MGM is so crowded as it is.........I mean they have to try something before they start losing some business to Universal.....Granted Disney will survive but it will make people....like myself extend my stay if there was something to do at disney that would compete against what they are going to do with Harry Potter at Universal...............heck I finally got my son (6 years old) into Transformers because of the movie................he now understands my addiction to that and if there is stuff for him to do with Star Wars Like maybe an animatronic Yoda.....that would be HOT

 

[ptrbryant]

I should say that I feel like I'm writing this on behalf of my DH and DS!!! I actually ended up having to spend one of my birthdays at a Star Wars Covention (2005) and then we went to WDW's Star Wars Weekends for 2005 and 2006 (note our photo below with SW's producer Rick McCallum). One thing I can say: Star Wars has massive numbers of fans of all generations. It's unbelievable what a dedicated legion of fans the franchise has. If there was a Star Wars section (I'd guess at Disney-Pixar Studios as Disney-MGM Studios will soon be called) that was truly well-done and big enough, I think it would give that park a big and long-lasting boost.

Karla B.

 

[LilGMom]

Bring it on!!!! Dh, our oldest ds (age 6) and I are all HUGE Star Wars fans. I think our oldest ds has every SW Galactic Hero out there, Dh still has some of the original SW toys and I recently found some SW books that I had as a kid. Dh and I played Star Wars Galaxies online and I could envision an entire park, or at least a large land like Adventure land, dedicated to Star Wars. Cantina themed restaurants, rides, attractions, shows, the whole millenium falcon full of Star Wars possibilities is out there.

On one of our trips Dh and I were giddy with the knowledge that we'd be making our own lightsabers. Our oldest (5 at the time) was excited too but not as much as we were. We *had* to make two in order to get both a Sith and Jedi pin.

Harry Potter - poo!

Bring on the Wookies!!!!

 

[tinkerbellblondie19]

They could tear down the pizza planet to build a little Star Wars land!

 

[wilde_oscar]

so Disneyland came to be about roughly after 30 years of Walt's success in animation. We are at roughly the 30 year mark for Star Wars. Ask your self, will Harry Potter have the staying power of Star Wars? Dunno, I doubt it will for me. But in George Lucas' own words, the only company he would get involved with to do his legacy justice is Disney. There are any number of ride and attraction ideas that could come from Star Wars. There is also the Star Wars universe outside the time frames of the 6 movies... books, comics, cartoons, and an upcoming TV series.

Lots of material, lots of fans to tap in the Star Wars universe, and it has staying power along with a life outside just the movies. Once the HP books are done, and the movies are done... where does new HP source material come from?

Not only Star Wars though... I hear the Pirates movies did ok at the box office, and there are a bunch more story ideas ya can squeeze from that, National Treasure movies are going to be a pretty big franchise, Narnia has huge potential for exploitation. And as they say; land, they are not making any more of it. Where does Universal have to expand? I guess that WDW comes up with the 5th gate, that is all thrill rides based on villains only if HP cuts into their revenue. It will take Universal a couple years to build out, and a couple years to see what the impact will be, and a couple more years to see if it has staying power. Disney can crank out a villains thrill ride park in 18 months if need be.

This is going to take a while to play out. We are looking at 2010 before Disney could possible be forced to adjust. And it would not be till 2012 that they could possible be behind the 8 ball. Heck, Beastly Kingdom is already done on paper, that could be a quick addition to get attendance up.

 

[Momof2J's]

We are going January 2008 and hope that the Jedi Training Academy is going by then. My DS6 would be in heaven!! He knows more Star Wars trivia than anyone I know! He has all 6 movies, legos, action figures, video games, etc... Unfortunately we can never go during SW weekends and I always feel so bad for him. If Disney starts adding more SW year round that would be great!

 

[Boardwalker]

Sorry, I can't agree.
I am a diehard Disney Themepark loyalist, but even I will abandon ship for a trip to Hogwarts.
I know there is a large Star Wars following, but I don't think anything will be able to compete with Harry Potter in terms of shear numbers.
In my opinion, Harry Potter will draw a lot of people away from Disney for a few years.
This round goes to Universal.

 

[Tent Camping Mom]

Come Pod Squad.....are we all in agreement that Star Wars would definitely win against the Magic of Harry Potter

Yes, definitely. DH, DS(11), and I are huge Star Wars fans and we all enjoy Harry Potter. I think HP will have just a single generation following....I don't think it will go through the generations as Star Wars has.

 

[ptrbryant]

Yes, definitely. DH, DS(11), and I are huge Star Wars fans and we all enjoy Harry Potter. I think HP will have just a single generation following....I don't think it will go through the generations as Star Wars has.

Exactly. I think Harry Potter has a much more limited fanbase when it comes to age ranges and, honestly, sheer numbers of fans. I'm skeptical, for example, there'd still be major Harry Potter conventions in 30 years to mirror the Star Wars versions that get bigger every year.

Karla B.

 

[M&M's]

Yes, definitely. DH, DS(11), and I are huge Star Wars fans and we all enjoy Harry Potter. I think HP will have just a single generation following....I don't think it will go through the generations as Star Wars has.

It has already gone through three generations in my neighborhood, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who can say this. My neighbor who was in her eighties loved it, my mom loves it, I love it, and I'm sure my daughter will love it when she gets older, which would make four generations.

I would also venture to guess that the average age of Star Wars fans is much higher than the average age of Harry Potter fans.

Don't count Harry out right away.

Count me as another person who would rather go see the world in the Harry Potter books than anything to do with Star Wars.

 

[hannah's dad]

The best thing about Universal "winning" the HP theme park rights is that - hopefully - it will push Disney to continue to improve the parks (especially the Studios), whether it is a significant expansion of Star Wars attractions or something totally different.

 

[Brer_roadrunner]

The future is limitless when talking about the Star Wars franchise... Harry is big, I'll grant you that, but when looking over the list of top grossing movies of all time only one of the Potter movie's is on the list at #65... Coming in at numbers 2, 12, 14, 19, 56, & 82 are all 6 episodes of Star Wars... The Star Wars franchise dwarfs Harry Potter, it's not even close... If done correctly by Disney and Lucas this could and should be huge...

 

[hannah's dad]

The future is limitless when talking about the Star Wars franchise... Harry is big, I'll grant you that, but when looking over the list of top grossing movies of all time only one of the Potter movie's is on the list at #65... Coming in at numbers 2, 12, 14, 19, 56, & 82 are all 6 episodes of Star Wars... The Star Wars franchise dwarfs Harry Potter, it's not even close... If done correctly by Disney and Lucas this could and should be huge...

But remember that HP is not primarily a movie driven franchise, so comparing movie grosses is an apples to oranges comparison. Who knows whether or not HP will have the same appeal as Star Wars in 30 years, but I would think the opening of the HP attractions will be the most anticipated Orlando theme park opening event since...who knows, but in a long time. And certainly much more anticipated than anything Disney has planned in the next few years. So hopefully the fear of losing significant theme park customer days to Universal will push Disney into high gear.

 

[M&M's]

The future is limitless when talking about the Star Wars franchise... Harry is big, I'll grant you that, but when looking over the list of top grossing movies of all time only one of the Potter movie's is on the list at #65... Coming in at numbers 2, 12, 14, 19, 56, & 82 are all 6 episodes of Star Wars... The Star Wars franchise dwarfs Harry Potter, it's not even close... If done correctly by Disney and Lucas this could and should be huge...

It's tough to compare a movie franchise that's 30 years old to one that is 6 years old in terms of top grossing movies. The first three Star Wars (well, Episodes IV, V, and VI) have been theatrically released three separate times. Obviously, all five Harry Potter movies have only been theatrically released once. I'd like to see how the list changes if you get rid of the gross revenues from the later releases.

One can also see how the later releases (Episodes I, II, and II) drop way down the list. Many people went to see Episode I due to all of the hype. But look how much the gross revenues dropped for Episode II, when the hype was gone. Episode II grossed over $206,000,000 than Episode I. Episode III grossed more than Episode II probably because it was the last movie and probably the best of the second trilogy, but was still $167,000,000 less than Episode I.

But perhaps the biggest flaw in your argument is your source (I'm assuming it's boxofficemojo.com). The list you are using is a U.S. only list. Harry Potter is a worldwide phenomenon, and you cannot ignore that fact. Look at the worldwide list on boxofficemojo.com. The Harry Potter movies are ranked at 4, 10, 12, 19, and 39 (with #39 being the most recent movie released less than two weeks ago). The Star Wars movies are ranked 7, 15, 22, 31, 44, and 59. This list isn't adjust for inflation, but the second trilogy of Star Wars movies which came out roughly the same time as Harry Potter still ranked overall well behind Harry Potter (they ranked at 7, 15, and 31).

I'm not saying Star Wars is bad. Not at all. Collectively, they are some of the best movies of all time. But I will put my money in the Harry Potter franchise without a second thought as the more popular franchise right now and over the next 100 years.

 

[chef_mickey]

I have never seen star wars so... I sorta kinda have to go with harry

DMom DDad DSis ME

 

[Brer_roadrunner]

It's tough to compare a movie franchise that's 30 years old to one that is 6 years old in terms of top grossing movies. The first three Star Wars (well, Episodes IV, V, and VI) have been theatrically released three separate times. Obviously, all five Harry Potter movies have only been theatrically released once. I'd like to see how the list changes if you get rid of the gross revenues from the later releases.

One can also see how the later releases (Episodes I, II, and II) drop way down the list. Many people went to see Episode I due to all of the hype. But look how much the gross revenues dropped for Episode II, when the hype was gone. Episode II grossed over $206,000,000 than Episode I. Episode III grossed more than Episode II probably because it was the last movie and probably the best of the second trilogy, but was still $167,000,000 less than Episode I.

But perhaps the biggest flaw in your argument is your source (I'm assuming it's boxofficemojo.com). The list you are using is a U.S. only list. Harry Potter is a worldwide phenomenon, and you cannot ignore that fact. Look at the worldwide list on boxofficemojo.com. The Harry Potter movies are ranked at 4, 10, 12, 19, and 39 (with #39 being the most recent movie released less than two weeks ago). The Star Wars movies are ranked 7, 15, 22, 31, 44, and 59. This list isn't adjust for inflation, but the second trilogy of Star Wars movies which came out roughly the same time as Harry Potter still ranked overall well behind Harry Potter (they ranked at 7, 15, and 31).

I'm not saying Star Wars is bad. Not at all. Collectively, they are some of the best movies of all time. But I will put my money in the Harry Potter franchise without a second thought as the more popular franchise right now and over the next 100 years.

You make a very good argument... I'm not going to argue about Harry's popularity, that would be foolish of me, I'm just stating that having the Star Wars franchise isn't a bad franchise to go up against Harry Potter... It's a proven money maker, it has been for 30 years... I guess my point is that we know Star Wars has staying power, and will be a viable commodity for Disney to use against Universal... In 100 years if you're right, we'll meet back here and I'll buy you a drink

...

 

[M&M's]

You make a very good argument... I'm not going to argue about Harry's popularity, that would be foolish of me, I'm just stating that having the Star Wars franchise isn't a bad franchise to go up against Harry Potter... It's a proven money maker, it has been for 30 years... I guess my point is that we know Star Wars has staying power, and will be a viable commodity for Disney to use against Universal... In 100 years if you're right, we'll meet back here and I'll buy you a drink

...

If we are still around to talk on the disboards in 100 years, I'll probably be taking that drink through a feeding tube!

Star Wars is the best competitor Disney has to Universal's Harry Potter, but what can they do? They have a few years to do something, and a refurbed Star Tours wouldn't cut it.

I don't think Disney will build a whole new land dedicated to just Star Wars, mainly because they don't need to. If anything ever happens like that, it would be in response to Universal stealing a bunch of customers away and Disney's bottom line suffering immensely because of it. The key here I believe is the Hogwarts Hotel. I definitely think people will choose to stay there where they would normally have stayed at a Disney resort. It's just a question of how much of an impact that would have on Disney financially.

Like Pete always says, Disney's modus operandi is to charge more for less. As long as the new Harry Potter world doesn't bite significantly into Disney's wallet, Disney will just sit back and walk that fine line by doing the bare minimum to keep their revenues in line while still attracting new customers.

 

[Boardwalker]

I don't think Disney will build a whole new land dedicated to just Star Wars, mainly because they don't need to. If anything ever happens like that, it would be in response to Universal stealing a bunch of customers away and Disney's bottom line suffering immensely because of it. The key here I believe is the Hogwarts Hotel. It's just a question of how much of an impact that would have on Disney financially.

Like Pete always says, Disney's modus operandi is to charge more for less. As long as the new Harry Potter world doesn't bite significantly into Disney's wallet, Disney will just sit back and walk that fine line by doing the bare minimum to keep their revenues in line while still attracting new customers.

That rings true to me. And with all of the kids hyped up to go to Orlando to see Harry, chances are they are going to be making a stop at a Disney Park as well.

As it is now, I stay at a Disney Resort and spend a day at Universal every once in ...5 years? When I go to see Harry, and I will, I will probably not stay more than a night there, and will spend the rest of my time back at Disney.

How many more families will Harry draw to Orlando? Unless Universal can hold them for a full week, Disney is going to get some of their money too.

 

[PollyannaMom]

How many more families will Harry draw to Orlando? Unless Universal can hold them for a full week, Disney is going to get some of their money too.

I agree. They will actually make each other money.

 

[cocowum]

But I will put my money in the Harry Potter franchise without a second thought as the more popular franchise right now and over the next 100 years.

I have to agree with Matt here.

BTW Matt, I'm loving your trippie.

But...shouldn't you be over there putting up a new installment. We're waiting



j/k...kinda.