If the WOM on SW 7 is stellar leading up to the premiere, and Fox supplies a kick-ass marketing campaign, the entire world (like, everybody) will go see it. over and over again. Add in 3D, IMAX, whatever-new-format, the movie will surpass TA1 with relative ease. Throw in a love story subplot that actually works, and a Leo-level male lead, and SW7 could overtake Titanic. So a buttload of ifs basically.
Of course TA2 also has the opportunity to expand its audience and challege the #2 spot, and I think its a much safer bet at this point than SW7 for obvious reasons. Way too many questions regarding SW given recent history and dearth of details. But the potential for history-making box office is there due to the wordwide cultural infiltration of the SW brand.
As far as the above wardell quote, I like this idea. My fave scenes from TA were the ones where the characters paired off, either to fight or to team up. I think this "defensive" or "threat from within" premise makes these dichotomous (a word?) scenes more likely.
