Box Office: ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ soars to huge $45M-plus in Thursday previews
Just as Disney wields its might by proposing to buy most of 21st Century Fox, ‘The Last Jedi’ is tipped to score the top opening of 2017. Disney and Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi soared to a near-record $45 million in Thursday previews. The movie scored the second-best preview number of all time, only […]
Just as Disney wields its might by proposing to buy most of 21st Century Fox, ‘The Last Jedi’ is tipped to score the top opening of 2017.
Disney and Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi soared to a near-record $45 million in Thursday previews.
The movie scored the second-best preview number of all time, only behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Last Jedi’s IMAX previews generated an estimated $5.3 million, in line with Force Awakens’ Thursday opening IMAX record of $5.37 million.
The franchise’s eighth installment is expected to make a domestic debut in the $200 million range, making it the strongest opening of the year so far. It began opening in select foreign markets midweek, and is projected to gross $425 million-plus through Sunday to secure one of the five best worldwide openings of all time, not accounting for inflation.
Last Jedi’s domestic preview numbers compare well with those of recent Star Wars titles. J.J. Abrams’ Force Awakens earned a record $57 million in previews in December 2015, and went on to earn $247.9 million in its opening weekend to become the No. 1 film of all time domestically with $936.7 million, not accounting for inflation. And last year, standalone film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story drew $29 million in previews during the same weekend, and went on to earn $155.1 million in its opening weekend and gross $532.1 million in its domestic run. Globally, the films earned $2.1 billion and $1.1 billion, respectively.
In terms of Thursday previews, Last Jedi beat the numbers the final Harry Potter pic, which previously held the record for the second-best Thursday-night preview gross with $43.5 million.
Last Jedi began its international rollout on Wednesday in 14 material markets, followed by an additional 34 material markets on Thursday. It opened at the top of each international market (except Turkey and Korea), bringing its two-day international total to an estimated $60.8 million and a global total of $105.8 million.
The Force returns to theaters just as Disney announced its $52.4 billion bid to buy major 21st Century Fox assets, including the film studio, home of George Lucas’ first six Star Wars movies prior to selling Lucasfilm to Disney.
Directed by Rian Johnson, The Last Jedi reunites Force Awakens’ Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson, Andy Serkis and Lupita Nyong’o, along with original stars Mark Hamill and the late Carrie Fisher, to whom the movie is dedicated. Franchise newcomers include Kelly Marie Tran, Laura Dern and Benicio del Toro. The story picks up immediately after the events of The Force Awakens, with Rey (Ridley) seeking out Luke (Hamill) to help the Resistance and its fight against the villainous Kylo Ren (Driver) and The First Order.
The only film daring to open opposite The Last Jedi is Ferdinand, an animated family offering from Fox and Blue Sky Studios that hopes to win over younger tots and their parents throughout the holidays. It grossed $350,000 in Thursday previews at approximately 2,385 locations. Tracking suggests Ferdinand will open in the mid-teen millions to $20 million range. Directed by Carlos Saldanha, the pic is based on the classic children’s book about a peace-loving Spanish bull who would rather while away the hours smelling flowers and daydreaming than taking to the ring to fight. The voice cast includes John Cena, Kate McKinnon, Anthony Anderson, Bobby Cannavale, Peyton Manning and Gina Rodriguez. Ferdinand nabbed Golden Globes nominations for best animated feature and animated score.
Source: THR.com