Coming into the weekend, even the most optimistic projections for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker were well below the $220 million made by The Last Jedi. However, it didn’t land close to $200 million as some expected. Via Deadline, the current estimate holds that The Rise of Skywalker finished with $175 million domestically over the weekend. Many franchises would kill for those numbers, but for Star Wars, that’s considered to be a disappointment.
The Force Awakens opened to $247 million in 2015, but that was after a decade without a new live-action Star Wars. The Rise of Skywalker still came in above the two spinoff films, Rogue One and Solo; which opened with $155 million and $84.4 million respectively. The disappointing opening for The Rise of Skywalker doesn’t necessarily doom the film’s long term box office prospects. However, the second weekend will likely determine whether it will have significant legs through the holiday season.
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Jumanji: The Next Level came in a distant second place with $25.8 million. That brings its domestic total up to $101.6 million. In third place, Frozen 2 is humming right along with $12.6 million and $386 million domestically to date. The big flop of the weekend was the CGI-heavy adaptation of Cats; which hit fourth place with only $7.6 million. Rian Johnson’s latest film, Knives Out, rounded out the top five with $6.4 million.
Bombshell followed at #6 with $5.8 million, while Richard Jewell took the seventh slot with $2.7 million. In eighth place, Queen & Slim came up with $1.9 million, with Black Christmas just behind it with $1.8 million. Fox/Disney’s Ford v Ferrari took tenth place with $1.64 million.
What do you think is behind The Rise of Skywalker‘s opening box office numbers? And how high can it go domestically? Share your predictions in the comment section below!
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