Weekend 3īelieve it or not, things got worse from there. That ranked as the fifth-worst drop of anybody in the club, with The Last Jedi ranking first (and that’s only because we don’t include the fourth day of the holiday weekend).Īt the end of the second weekend, Rise of Skywalker’s domestic gross stood at $362.2 million, while The Last Jedi’s came in at $395.6 million and The Force Awakens’ at $540.1 million. Sure enough, though, the latest Disney project defied all expectations and only pulled in $105 million less with $72.4 million-a massive 59.2% drop. In fact, of all the club members, only Iron Man 3 had earned less than Rise of Skywalker’s $177.4 three-day opening. Of course Avengers: Endgame is going to earn significantly less on Weekend 2 after a $357.1 million opening, right?īut Rise of Skywalker’s opening weekend came nowhere near that figure. To join the club, a film must earn $100 million less on its second weekend than it does opening weekend. Heading into the second weekend, a scary thought popped into this Star Wars fan’s head: could Rise of Skywalker join the $100 Million Losers Club?īefore Weekend 2, there were only ten members in this club. The anticipation surrounding the first Star Wars movie in 10 years simply wasn’t comparable to Rise of Skywalker’s debut. If you need proof, look no further than the $70 million gap between Rise of Skywalker and The Force Awakens.
#STAR WARS THE FORCE AWAKENS FULL MOVIE MOVIEBOX TV#
Now Star Wars have become ubiquitous, commonplace, a yearly event (and that doesn’t include TV projects like The Mandalorian). I’m speaking to the fact that Star Wars used to be a special event, an adventure you had to wait years to experience. There are plenty of reasons Rise of Skywalker dipped so far down from the first two Star Wars sequels on opening weekend, but the simplest theory is this: the franchise is no longer special.Īnd I’m not talking about quality-I thought Rise of Skywalker was an awesome movie. "It's great for the audiences, great for studios and theater owners in particular who can point to this and say the movie theater industry is as viable and relevant as it's ever been," he said.Rise of Skywalker also opened in nearly 1,300 more theaters than The Phantom Menace, which would eventually earn over $800 million after inflation ( Rise of Skywalker won’t come anywhere near that figure).
And Quentin Tarantino's latest film, The Hateful Eight, debuted in 10th place with $4.5 million.Ī juggernaut like Star Wars empowers the entire industry, Dergarabedian said. The remake of Point Break opened with $10.2 million.
Concussion, the Will Smith-NFL drama, took in $11 million, good for sixth place, followed by the financial-crisis saga The Big Short, which collected $10.5 million. Russell's new drama starring Jennifer Lawrence, Joy, debuted in third place with $17.5 million.Ī flurry of new films also opened in the top 10 this weekend. That prize went to the Paramount comedy Daddy's Home, which opened with $38.8 million, according to studio estimates on Sunday.ĭavid O. The power of Star Wars meant the rest of the week's releases were competing for second place. "It's absolutely mind-blowing that `Star Wars' could get to a billion dollars in 12 days and it hasn't even opened in China, the second biggest movie market in the world." "You almost have to rewrite all the record books for this movie," box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian of Rentrak said. It also topped $100 million in IMAX screenings in 10 days, another global record. It scored the biggest worldwide debut with $529 million. It brought in a galactic $238 million in North America over its opening weekend, besting Jurassic World there, too, and set international opening-weekend records in Australia, New Zealand and throughout Europe.
The Force Awakens has been setting records since its debut December 17. Abrams' installment of Star Wars also posted the biggest Christmas Day box office in history with $49.3 million and the best second-weekend take with an estimated $150 million.