Earlier this week, a new box office report claimed that LucasFilm’s firstStar Warsspin-offRogue One: A Star Wars Storyis eyeing aworldwide opening weekendof $350 million, which would have been the third highest this year. As it turned out,Rogue Onefell short of that projection, with a worldwide debut of $290.5 million, although it still secured the third highest worldwide opening this year, behind Warner Bros.‘Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice($422.5 million) and Marvel’sCaptain America: Civil War($379.5 million). WhileRogue One’s worldwide debut is impressive, it’s still a far cry from the all time record of $529 million, set last year byStar Wars: The Force Awakens.
Deadlinereports thatRogue Oneopened in 54 international markets with a foreign debut of $135.5 million. The tally comes in behindStar Wars: The Force Awakens($281M),Avatar($164.5M) andThe Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey($138M). The spin-off was the top movie in all opening markets and scored the highestopening weekendof 2016 in France, Germany, Spain and the UK, among many others. This Deadline report reveals thatRogue Oneis opening like a “normal blockbuster,” although it is opening at roughly half of the monstrous debut ofStar Wars: The Force Awakenslast year. Still, the opening is in line with the studio’s expectations, according to Disney’s executive vice president of distribution,Dave Hollis. Here’s what he had to say below.
“(Disney is) right where we wanted to be. (Rogue Onedid) exactly what it needed to do as a litmus for the standalones going forward from a commercial and an artistic standpoint. It’s incredibly satisfying that it’s opened the way it has and gotten the reaction that it has despite pre-holiday distractions.”
The United Kingdom leads all overseas markets with $21 million, which represents a whopping 75% of the market share in that country. That debut was the second highest in U.K. history, behind {NEmQBf6ObIwxpv||The Force Awakens. The spin-off debuted in France on Wednesday, the UK, Australia, Germany, Russia, Mexico, Brazil and Italy on Thursday and Japan and Spain opening on Friday, along with the domestic North American debut. The only territories where it hasn’t been released yet is South Korea, where it will debut on December 28 and the international powerhouse China, where Rogue One opens on January 6. China has been the key to international box office success for many films, with The Force Awakens earning a whopping $124.1 million in the country, the second highest international territory for the film, behind the U.K. with $163.5 million.
Rogue Onealso fared well inIMAX theaters, taking in $29.2 million worldwide on 708 screens. This is the second biggest December debut behindThe Force Awakens, and it’s also a Top 5 all-time global IMAX opening, which is even more impressive since the film hasn’t opened in China and South Korea yet.Rogue One’s international IMAX tally was $10.2 million on 307 screens, which is the second highest international debut ever.Rogue One: A Star Wars Storydidn’t have much competition this weekend, but that will most certainly change in the next few days.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Storywill defend its box office crown against three newcomers opening on Wednesday, December 21, 20th Century Fox’sAssassin’s Creed, Sony’sPassengersand Universal’s animated musicalSing. On Friday, December 23, 20th Century Fox will release the comedyWhy Him?with Paramount set to expand its critically-acclaimed dramaFencesnationwide on Christmas Day. It remains to be seen how longRogue Onecan hold on to the top spot at the box office, both domestically and internationally.
