While it’s opening weekend of $177,383,864 was markedly lower than predecessor The Last Jedi which posted $220,009,584, The Rise of Skywalker has started to close the gap thanks to great word of mouth and the boost provided by the Christmas holidays.
Posting the second best Christmas day figures ever with $32m, second only to The Force Awakens with a monstrous $49.3m in 2015, the final Skywalker Saga episode is closing the gap on Episode VIII. As of today – it’s 7th day on release in North America, including Thursday night previews – Rise has taken $289,796,342, compared to Last Jedi which had taken $296,602,356 on 174 less screens. Episode VIII’s second week was the difference maker in its trajectory to a grand total of $620,181,382 and the next week will be similarly key in the final figure of Rise.
With a stellar Christmas Day in the bank, Boxing Day was equally as impressive.
Another big day for Disney’s Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker with a Dec. 26 estimated gross of $30.7M, -4% from Christmas Day. Industry sources are forecasting that through the ninth-quel’s first ten days by Sunday, the J.J. Abrams directed movie will hit $380.9M, pacing 3% ahead of Last Jedi at the same point in time. Pretty impressive for a pic we dinged for having a slow start. Skywalker‘s Dec. 26 bests that of Last Jedi‘s ($27.7M) and is just under Rogue One‘s $32M, which was on the Monday after a Christmas Sunday.
Internationally, Episode IX has taken $282,300,000, a decent haul for its first week and over a third of the way towards Last Jedi which ended on $712,358,507 and already over halfway towards Rogue One (screening on ITV2 again this evening at 10.00pm in the UK) which amassed $523,879,949.
Stay tuned, this looks like it will be a fascinating game of numbers to track over the coming weeks.
