Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker received a somewhat surprising critical beating this week. With 346 reviews counted, the verdict on the Tomatometer is currently Rotten, with many calling the movie nonsensical, poorly plotted and lacking emotional resonance. But, as is so often the case with big Hollywood blockbusters, there appears to be a divide between the critics’ opinion and the general audience’s.
At the moment, The Rise of Skywalker holds a 57% on the Tomatometer, but with an audience score of 86%, it seems that moviegoers are enjoying the pic a bit more than the critics did. But apparently not enough to give it the opening weekend that Lucasfilm and Disney were perhaps hoping for.
The Friday night numbers are now in and the Sequel Trilogy-closer has so far brought in $90 million on home turf, which includes the $40 million from Thursday screenings. For most movies, that would be spectacular, but for The Rise of Skywalker? Well, not so much.
For comparison’s sake, The Force Awakens posted $119 million for its Friday opening while The Last Jedi did $104 million. Does this mean that Rise is now doomed when it comes to its opening weekend? Not necessarily, and though we won’t have the final numbers until tomorrow, we imagine it’ll get a nice little boost over the next day or two. But will it be enough to match the opening weekends of TFA and TLJ? Unlikely.
Regardless of where it ultimately ends up, though, it definitely seems like the time is right for Star Wars to take a little break from theaters. Audiences are clearly tiring of the property a bit and a short hiauts from the big screen followed by a hard push of the reset button is probably the best move right now.