It was a big weekend at the box office for Star Wars fans, as the latest film in the sci-fi franchise took over cinemas. Here’s what went down:
While we wait for the weekend actual to arrive, the estimated box office returns have come in and, unsurprisingly, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story delivered outstanding results. The story of the rebels who attempt to steal the plans for the original Death Star from the Empire brought in an estimate $155 million to win the weekend. While the film’s opening weekend earnings is off from last year’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which had a record setting debut of $247 million, there are factors that need to be considered with that analysis. First, it had been more than ten years between the release of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith and The Force Awakens, so there had been a lot of pent-up anticipation for a new franchise film. Secondly, Rogue One is introducing a whole new set of characters, whereas The Force Awakens promoted the return of icons like Han Solo, Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker. There was no way a standalone film would be able to reach those lofty heights, so I’m sure Disney and Lucasfilm are more than ecstatic with both the commercial and critical reaction to Rogue One.
Personally speaking, while I enjoyed Rogue One well enough, I definitely didn’t love it as much as other Star Wars fans. While the performances and special effects were all excellent, I think knowing the end result just made the film somewhat anticlimactic for me. I would also say that the score from Michael Giacchino was incredibly underwhelming. Apparently, he only had something like four weeks to complete the work and it shows. While expecting anyone’s work to reach the heights of John Williams’ classic pieces, Rogue One certainly needed something more epic and stirring than what it received. However, it is nice to see that the studio stayed true to the ideas that this is a self-contained story, while still managing to brilliantly tie it directly into A New Hope.
As for the rest of the top five, Moana was in second place with $13.5 million. Office Christmas Party was in third place with $8.9 million. Collateral Beauty had a horrible debut with just $6.9 million, the lowest opening ever for a film starring Will Smith. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them closed things out in fifth place with $5.1 million.
So, to recap, here were our predictions:
1) Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – $165 million
2) Moana – $13 million
3) Collateral Beauty – $11 million
4) Office Christmas Party – $10 million
5) Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – $8 million
And here’s how the weekend is estimated to turn out:
1) Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – $155 million
2) Moana – $13.5 million
3) Office Christmas Party – $8.9 million
4) Collateral Beauty – $6.9 million
5) Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – $5.1 million
This Wednesday sees the release of three big December films – Assassin’s Creed, Sing and Passengers. Be sure to check back on Friday to see our predictions.
