Home Entertainment ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY has massive $290 million global opening!

ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY has massive $290 million global opening!

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Yes, I know we said that we’re on a holiday break, but I did also say that we would still be throwing up articles for any major breaking news. Well, it’s doesn’t get more major than Rogue One: A Star Wars Story‘s opening weekend box numbers, With only one other movie brave enough to open against the Star Wars juggernaut (that movie being the Will Smith drama Collateral Beauty, which bombed badly with a $7 million debut, the lowest of Smith’s career), Rogue One was always set to clean house. And it did so spectacularly with a massive $290.5 million global opening!

$155 Million of that figure came from the film’s domestic screenings, as it opened in 4,157 theaters in the US. Not only is it the second highest December domestic debut, but is only the second film in US box office history to ever open over $100 million in December. That other movie is of course none other than last year’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and I think it’s safe to say that its gigantic $247 million opening weekend record will be safe for a while still (well, at least until Star Wars: Episode VIII gets here next year).

Of course Rogue One is assuring its own spot in the record books. After just this three-day weekend, its already the 15th highest grossing domestic movie of 2016. It has the third largest domestic opening of the year, behind only Captain America: Civil War ($179 million) and Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice ($166 million) and has posted the 12th largest domestic opening of all time.

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Internationally, the movie pulled in $135.5 million with the top five contributing markets being UK ($21 million) Germany ($12.5 million), Australia ($10.8 million), France ($10 million) and Japan ($7.9 million). Next weekend will see no other major openings on the domestic markets, leaving Rogue One clear to more than likely dominate again. Back in the US though is a slightly different story though, as it will face competition from Passengers, Assassin’s Creed and Sing, all of which will be opening in the US this coming Wednesday. Fortunately this does still have the ever powerful Star Wars brand recognition behind it, and it’s currently sitting on a fantastic 84% Rotten Tomatoes score and A+ Cinemascore, which will definitely give it the legs to probably still hold onto the top spot.

Even if it does get dethroned in the next two weeks (which I don’t see happening), it will then open in the ever more important Chinese market on 6 January, so you can probably expect those box office numbers to get another boost then. Korea, another large Asian movie market, gets it right after that, while the UK school holidays has just begin, which will all help to keep Rogue One up high on the rankings, if not at the top.

All of this must come as a massive relief to Lucasfilm and Disney. Originally budgeted at around $200 million, the film’s price tag undoubtedly ballooned due to extensive reshoots. Those reshoots appear to have worked wonders though as the praise keeps pouring in and audiences keep flocking to cinemas to see it. Realistically, I don’t think Rogue One will have the legs that The Force Awakens with its mammoth $2 billion global total did, but I think the studio can rest easy that that will be making their money back and then some on this film.

 

Last Updated: December 19, 2016

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