After two years’ worth of far-flung fan theories and enough pent-up excitement to sink a Mega Star Destroyer, Star Wars: The Last Jedi is finally here and we couldn’t be more excited. Rian Johnson’s entry into the Skywalker saga is everything we hoped it’d be and more, delivering an epic, dazzling and beautifully shot adventure set in that galaxy far, far away which we absolutely loved.
Audiences felt the same way, apparently, as it’s being reported that over its opening weekend, Episode VIII pulled in a staggering $450 million at the worldwide box office. Split up, that’s $220 million domestically (falling just short of The Force Awakens‘ $248 million) and $230 million internationally, proving that Lucasfilm’s sci-fi franchise is a juggernaut in all parts of the world. With solid word of mouth and very positive reviews, it’s looking like the money’s just going to keep on rolling in.
“Truly in a class by themselves, the movies of the “Star Wars” franchise continue to re-write the history books as to what is possible in terms of box office performance,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at comScore.
Continuing on, he added:
“‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ posts the second biggest preview gross, the second best single day gross ever recorded and if that were not enough, the second biggest opening weekend ever in North America, joining the elusive $200 million club with a knockout of a movie that is proving to be both catnip to the critics and moviegoers alike over what has become the strongest moviegoing weekend of 2017,”
For the sake of perspective, over the past three years, The Force Awakens and Rogue One helped pump fresh blood into the studio’s dormant giant, and collected $2.06 billion and $1.05 billion in the process. All things considered, we imagine The Last Jedi will fall in between those two milestones, but until a few more weeks have passed, we won’t be able to say for sure where Johnson’s pic will ultimately end off.
Still, this is a tremendous start for the latest chapter in the saga, as Episode VIII has now become only the fourth film in history to break $200 million domestically on opening weekend, joining a very exclusive club that also includes The Avengers, Jurassic World and The Force Awakens.
Even despite some mixed reactions from fans due to many controversial storytelling decisions that The Last Jedi made, it’s clear that Star Wars still reigns supreme and with numerous spinoffs already announced, plus that whole new trilogy that we know Rian Johnson is working on, it’s certainly a great time to be a fan of that galaxy far, far away.