Nobody thought Star Wars: The Last Jedi was going to tank. Or, for that matter, that it was even going to disappoint, at least in terms of what it made at the box office. It was really just a question of whether Rian Johnson’s heavily anticipated followup to The Force Awakens was going to possibly rival its predecessor’s haul. We got a rather clear sign of just that now that Thursday’s gargantuan box office numbers are in.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Star Wars: The Last Jedi pulled in a staggering $45 million from Thursday night alone. That’s not quite the best Thursday night preview of all time; that honor still goes to the $57 million The Force Awakens racked up in 2015. But that still potentially sets up The Last Jedi for a $100 million opening day (“opening day” includes all the previews from Thursday) and a $200 million weekend. It will likely be one of the highest grossing movies of 2017, with only three weeks to pull that off.
Of course, it doesn’t matter in the end, as The Last Jedi only has an animated movie as competition and most of the beginning of 2018 is concerned more with Oscar gold, or simply filling screens at theaters, than getting the silver at the box office next to Rey and BB-8. We’ll see what the weekend holds.
(via The Hollywood Reporter)