UPDATED 12/29, 5:00 p.m. ET: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker earned $72 million during its second weekend at the box office. Despite the gaudy numbers, it's still on track to make less than its two predecessors in the trilogy.
UPDATED 12/26, 10:00 p.m. ET: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker continues to crush it at the box office. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film earned $35 million on Christmas day, giving it the second highest gross of all time, behind only Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
UPDATED 12/25, 3:00 p.m. ET: The Rise of Skywalker had a mammoth Monday, earning an estimated $20 million at the box office, making it the second best Christmas Eve for a Star Wars movie ever, behind only The Force Awakens.
UPDATED 12/22, 11:00 a.m. ET: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalkeris set to make around $179 million for its opening weekend, Deadline reports. That's nearly $15 million less than earlier projections, which is the third best December opening ever.
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The force is strong with this film.
Disney’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalkeris set to have a $193.7 million opening for its domestic opening weekend, according to Deadline. With $90 million earned on Friday, Rise of Skywalker is on pace for the third-biggest December opening ever behind The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. Fans went out in droves for the Skywalker cast, which includes new Star Wars actors John Boyega, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, and legends like Billy Dee Williams, and Mark Hamill, and the late Carrie Fisher.
The Last Jedi, helmed by Rian Johnson, earned a cool $45 million on Thursday which made for $104.6 million on its opening day. The J.J. Abrams-led The Force Awakens earned $57 million and a $119.1 million on that Friday. The film had a huge showing across the country, but "played best on the coasts and in the big cities," Deadline reports.
Early critical reactions to Skywalker have been mixed. It has the distinct honor of holding the second-lowest Rotten Tomatoesrating of the Star Wars saga (57 percent) ahead of 1999's Episode I: The Phantom Menace (53 percent).
This year has been good to Disney. It became the first studio ever to make more than $10 billion in a year at the worldwide box office this month.
