Rogue One: A Star Wars Story — the first of 83,482 Star Wars standalone films if Disney has their way (and they always do) — isn’t expected to be as big of a record-breaking hit as last year’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Which is to say, it won’t be the highest grossing domestic movie of all-time. Disney chairman Bog Iger is already tempering box office expectations, saying, “We’ve not ever felt it would do the level that Force Awakens did, but we’ve been very, very encouraged that the level of interest in this is as high as it was for Force Awakens.” I guess he’ll have to settle for only one billion dollars.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Rogue One is “tracking to open to $130 million-plus in North America over the Dec. 16-18 weekend, which would mark the second-biggest December opening of all time after Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The pre-Christmas corridor isn’t known for huge openings, since consumers are distracted by holiday preparations. Prior to The Force Awakens, no December film had ever launched north of $85 million.”
Of the 21 films to debut with $130 million-plus at the box office — from 2006’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest to, most recently, Suicide Squad — 12 later crossed the coveted billion-dollar mark. It’s likely Rogue One will be the 13th. And if it doesn’t, Disney has $6 billion to fall back on. Phew.
(Via the Hollywood Reporter)
