Weekend Wrap-Up: Rogue One has Apocalyptic Opening of $155.08 million

December 19, 2016

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

As expected, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story dominated the weekend box office chart with $155.08 million. This is well over twice as much as every other release combined. It is nearly twice as much as last weekend’s total box office. This helped the box office grow by 154%, reaching $211 million. Sadly, this was over $100 million or 32% lower than the same weekend last year when The Force Awakens dominated the chart. The year-over-year decline can be best summed up as within expectations. 2016 is still ahead of 2015 by a massive amount at $10.47 billion to $9.96 billion, but that will change as we see more numbers for Rogue One come in. On a more big picture look, Disney became the first studio ever to hit $7 billion worldwide in one year. They now have the record for biggest yearly domestic box office and biggest yearly worldwide box office, while it is just $160 million away from the international record as well.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story opened with $155.08 million, which is on the high end of expectations. It is also almost as much as X-Men: Apocalypse earned in total during its domestic box office run and that means Rogue One is already the 15th biggest domestic hit of 2016 after just three days of release. Combine this start with the holidays, its reviews, its A from CinemaScore, and the lack of good competition and the film should have good legs. If it has the same legs as The Force Awakens, then it will finish with $586 million. That’s a little too optimistic for my tastes, but we will of course be tracking it every step of the way and our expectations could change as more numbers come in.

Moana held on better than expected with $12.73 million over the weekend for a total of $162.92 million after four weeks of release. With many students starting their holidays today, the film should do very well over the coming weeks. If we continue to assume the film will have legs between those of Frozen and Tangled, we get a low end of $269 million and a high end of $298 million. Either result would be fantastic.

Office Christmas Party fell a little faster than expected, by 49% to $8.59 million over the weekend for a ten-day total of $31.66 million. Christmas should help it at the box office and it will have no trouble matching its $45 million production budget soon.

Collateral Beauty only managed fourth place during its opening with $7.10 million in 3,528 theaters. It barely topped the Mendoza Line. Its reviews are among the weakest for any wide release this year, while theater owners will be quick to drop it due to its low theater average.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them added $5.07 million over the weekend to its running tally, which now sits at $207.72 million after a month of release.

Manchester by the Sea grabbed sixth place with $4.24 million over the weekend for a month long total of $14.10 million. Its theater average is low enough that it likely won’t expand significantly beyond this point.

On the other hand, La La Land was right behind with $4.10 million in just 200 theaters over the weekend for a two-week total of $5.34 million. It will expand, especially if it continues to earn more major nominations during Awards Season.

There were no films in the sophomore class this week, but Nocturnal Animals struggled in its second week of semi-wide release down 55% to just $1.41 million over the weekend for a total of $8.83 million after a month of release. However, this was miles ahead of Miss Sloane, which plummeted 76% to just $449,000 over the weekend for a total of $3.19 million after four weeks of release. It will all but disappear from theaters on Wednesday.

- Weekend Box Office Chart

- International Weekend Results

- Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Tracking
- December Preview
- Theater Count
- Weekend Predictions
- Thursday Night Previews
- Friday Estimates
- Weekend Estimates

- Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Comparisons
- Collateral Beauty Comparisons
- Manchester by the Sea Comparisons
- La La Land Comparisons

Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, Moana, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Manchester by the Sea, Nocturnal Animals, La La Land, Collateral Beauty, Miss Sloane, Office Christmas Party