The results, based on estimates released Sunday by ComScore Inc., put the film squarely ahead of last year’s spinoff movie “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” which took in $158 million in its opening weekend. It will likely establish “The Last Jedi” as the top-grossing picture of 2017. The new film reaped $230 million in other countries around the world, except China, where it will open next month. Disney had expected $225 million overseas.
Disney set a high bar for itself. The first chapter in the latest trilogy, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” took in an all-time North American record of $255 million in its opening weekend in 2015. Independent forecasts for “The Last Jedi” had run as high as $226 million from the Hollywood Stock Exchange and $210 million from Box Office Pro. Disney predicted the film would take in about $200 million.
“This just speaks to the power of Disney storytelling — how they are able to get their movies right time after time,” said Geetha Ranganathan, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. “Especially this year when we have so much concern with ‘sequilitis’ or franchise fatigue.”
The strong performance of “The Last Jedi” will reassure investors in Disney, which has at least five more “Star Wars” films in the works and last week made an even bigger commitment to the film business through its $66.1 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox Inc.’s entertainment assets.
“The Last Jedi” was well received by critics, with 96 percent positive reviews from top critics, according to aggregator RottenTomatoes.com. As they did for previous “Star Wars” films, fans began lining up outside theaters days before the debut. The film took in $45 million Thursday evening shows in the U.S. and Canada, an amount bested only by “The Force Awakens” two years ago.
“To have a movie do $220 million domestically is an extraordinary thing and to be as close to the phenomenon that was ‘The Force Awakens’ is certainly more than we expected,” Dave Hollis, Disney’s global head of distribution, said in a telephone interview Sunday.
Article Appeared @https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-17/-the-last-jedi-blasts-its-way-to-220-million-opening-weekend