The Force is still strong with the franchise, as evidenced by this weekend’s box office numbers showing Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker at the top of the charts.
What’s Happening:
- On December 20th, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opened and over the weekend has made $176 million dollars in U.S. theaters and $374 million around the globe.
- $176 million is still a massive opening, however, it is the lowest opening take of any of the Star Wars films since the Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm and began the new trilogy that started with Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
- That said, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker still represents one of the largest domestic openings of 2019, with Avengers: Endgame (released in April) and The Lion King (released in July) garnering larger numbers.
- All three films in the latest Star Wars trilogy opened in December. 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens earned $248 million when it opened, and 2017’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi made $220 million when it debuted.
- Even if Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker doesn’t match the numbers of the rest of the latest Star Wars trilogy, it has still been a banner year for the Walt Disney Company, with six titles in 2019 passing $1 Billion globally ,and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker could possibly make it seven.
What They’re Saying:
- Jeff Bock, an analyst with Exhibitor Relations, to Variety: “‘Rise of Skywalker won’t match The Last Jedi’s overall numbers, but that said, it’s a problem any other studio would love to have. The fact that this wasn’t their strongest outing and it still made an insane amount of money [shows] this is a cash cow. The fan base is unlike any other in Hollywood.”
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