Disney marketed Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker as the concluding act of the nine-movie saga that George Lucas started more than 40 years ago, but Abrams’ film failed to live up to the commercial expectations.
Some people assumed that Episode IX was going to amend the division caused by The Last Jedi in the fandom of a galaxy far, far away, but the critics ended up bashing the movie for its use of fan-service moments and nostalgic elements that overshadowed the narrative itself. Even if not for that, many people believe the story was lackluster and didn’t give any satisfying resolutions about the things that had been set up by Rian Johnson or the other movies in the saga.
Add that to the fact that some fans even decided to boycott the film before it even premiered back in December and you’ll have a pic that might ultimately end up earning less than Joker. Of course, while that isn’t a logical comparison, we shouldn’t forget that The Rise of Skywalker WAS the last main Star Wars movie for the foreseeable future, so earning less than The Force Awakens or The Last Jedi should be really disconcerting for the Mouse House.
According to a new report by Forbes, though, we shouldn’t underestimate the importance of weeknight moviegoers. In fact, the steady stream of people who continue to go and catch the last installment in the Skywalker Saga might actually end up saving the film so far as box office numbers are concerned.
If we were to take a look at 10-week runs from other blockbusters that had a massive opening, The Rise of Skywalker has actually experienced a pretty healthy and steady one. Consider that the movie had the 12th biggest opening weekend of all-time with $177 million, which was short of many Marvel efforts like Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Age of Ultron. But now, Episode IX has earned $514 million domestically, which overtakes said movies ($408 and $459 million respectively) by a large margin.
At this rate, other major releases like The Dark Knight ($535 million) and The Lion King ($543 million) are within reach as well, so we’ll just have to wait and see where Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker rates in the history of cinema when its theatrical run ends in a couple of weeks.