The only reason The Last made so much is because of all the false advertising. Its the only canon movie movie of the franchise, it was told that this movie would tie all the loose ends etc,etc. This movie was supposed to be this 'Epic Grandfinale' that brings closure too all the characters and plot-points because it is called 'The Last'. It wouldn't have done half as well if not for the misleading title, advertising and the no refund policy. You just have to look at the movie's rating to see this. 8 out of the top 10 reviews give this movie 1/5 stars and each of those reviews has about 100 likes each.
And anyways even if this movie's collection surpasses Rtn's(I believe that it will) the question remains how much does it really help SP. Its gonna cost them in the long run.
But having said that ,as of right now this movie is going to bring them a lot of money. I'm sure its gonna do great in the west as well. So to see the damage that the movie caused to the franchise I think we'll have to see how the rest of the New Era project does.
The Last advertised NaruHina pretty clearly to me. ^_^' That wasn't false. Most of the big sales and numbers came in after the premiere and not from the presale... And those people knew what the ending (pairing wise) and what the movie would be about... Where did you get a no refund policy from? Just curious.