Including Thursday night previews, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story earned a massive $71.1 million on Friday, and that puts it on track to meet estimates that it will gross $145 million - $155 million over the weekend. With a budget of around $200 million and an A CinemaScore, this is a great start for Disney and Lucasfilm's first Anthology movie, though it surprisingly won't top Captain America: Civil War and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice over the course of its first few days of release in North America!
Last year, Star Wars: The Force Awakens debuted with $247.9 million, but a big part of why Rogue One hasn't matched that is no doubt because of the lack of nostalgia. Yes, it takes place before the events of A New Hope (and features the return of Darth Vader), but The Force Awakens was the first Star Wars movie for years and brought back Harrison Ford as Han Solo. That was always going to be hard to beat!
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is going to be a hit though, and while we're still waiting on international numbers, it earned a stellar $33 million overseas on Wednesday and Thursday. Will it reach $1 billion? It seems likely, but we're going to have to wait and see! Either way, it should dominate the holidays, with only Assassin's Creed any real sort of competition. If that ends up being critically panned though, the door is open for Rogue One to stay at the top spot well into 2017. What do you guys think?
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