The Rise of Skywalker may not be doing quite as well at the box office as many of us would’ve predicted this time last year, but the crowds it’s drawing in would still be pretty enviable by the standards of most non-Star Wars movies.
On Christmas Day, for instance, the film comfortably held its position at the top of the domestic box office, grossing an estimated $32 million. That’s more than any other Star Wars pic has made on Christmas Day, save for J.J. Abrams’ The Force Awakens, which took in $49.3 million on December 25th, 2015 (though it’s perhaps worth noting that 2017’s The Last Jedi was already two weekends into its theatrical run before Christmas, when it made $27.4 million).
As it stands, the domestic total of The Rise of Skywalker sits at an estimated $258.9 million, with a global total of $516.8 million. Not too shabby, though compared to the equivalent figures for The Last Jedi and especially The Force Awakens, you have to imagine that Disney and Lucasfilm were expecting better for the end of the Skywalker Saga.
Much like the previous installments in the Sequel Trilogy, The Rise of Skywalker has proven divisive among the fans, only this time, the new movie doesn’t exactly have the critics on its side. At the time of writing, the film holds a Rotten Tomatoes score of 55% based on 415 reviews, though the Audience Score is at a far more generous 86%.
Given the movie’s CinemaScore of B+ – the lowest for any live-action Star Wars film to date – word of mouth may not be enough to turn The Rise of Skywalker into a hit on the level of The Last Jedi or The Force Awakens, though if you want to see what a real box office flop looks like, then we’ll remind you that Cats is still in cinemas.