The force is strong with The Last Jedi. The ninth feature film in the Star Wars franchise opened to $450 million across 54 territories, representing around 88% of the global marketplace.
North America’s $220 million bow makes it the biggest opening weekend of the year and the second biggest of all time behind The Force Awakens. The $230 million overseas haul comes without a day-and-date release in China, where the film won’t be opening until January 5. This puts the global debut at #5 of all time, behind The Fate of the Furious, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Jurassic World, and the final installment of the Harry Potter franchise.
The Last Jedi wasn’t expected to top the record-shattering opening weekend performance of The Force Awakens, which benefitted from many years of pent-up demand. Online chatter has been mixed, owing to the franchise’s very vocal (and reactive) fan base, therefore making CinemaScore a more consistent metric to draw from when it comes to moviegoers’ reactions. As of Sunday, the title boasts an A CinemaScore rating and a strong critical backing with a 93% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
On the domestic front, a $104.8 million Friday bow (including Thursday previews) preceded a $64 million Saturday and expected $51.3 million Sunday. Notably, the Saturday and Sunday grosses rank fourth among all time releases for those individual days. Audience demographics show the film skewed 58% male, led by viewers ages 26 to 32 (26%)—the exact same breakdown from the opening weekend of The Force Awakens. 3D screenings made up 30% of the opening weekend draw. IMAX was responsible for $24.6 million of the domestic haul; 8 of the top 10 grossing locations in North America included an IMAX screen.
Overseas, The Last Jedi posted the biggest opening weekend of the year across several top markets such as Australia, France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom. A market-by-market breakdown, including comparisons with opening weekend estimates from The Force Awakens and Rogue One, is included below:
United Kingdom & Ireland
The Last Jedi: $36.7M
Rogue One: $21.M
The Force Awakens: $48.9M
Germany
The Last Jedi: $23.6M
Rogue One: $12.5M
The Force Awakens: $27.3M
France
The Last Jedi: $18.1M
Rogue One: $10M
The Force Awakens: $22.7M
Australia
The Last Jedi: $15.9M
Rogue One: $10.8M
The Force Awakens: $18.9M
Japan
The Last Jedi: $14.4M
Rogue One: $7.9M
The Force Awakens: $13.5M
Russia
The Last Jedi: $8.5M
Rogue One: $5.6M
The Force Awakens: $12.3M
Spain
The Last Jedi: $8.3M
Rogue One: $4.5M
The Force Awakens: $9.6M
Brazil
The Last Jedi: $7.2M
Rogue One: $5.3M
The Force Awakens: $8.3M
Italy
The Last Jedi: $7M
Rogue One: $3.1M
The Force Awakens: $9.2M
Mexico
The Last Jedi: $7M
Rogue One: $5.1M
The Force Awakens: $11.3M
Sweden
The Last Jedi: $6M
Rogue One: $3.5M
The Force Awakens: $6.6M
11 overseas markets recorded their biggest IMAX opening weekend of all time, including Japan ($57K PSA from 28 screens), France ($102K PSA from 12 screens), Sweden ($246K PSA from 1 screen), Belgium ($86K PSA from 1 screen), and Denmark ($188K PSA from 2 screens). Globally, the IMAX tally represents $40.6 million of the opening weekend—the biggest IMAX opening weekend of the year and the second biggest of all time behind The Force Awakens. The film’s January 5 release in China will make it the widest release in IMAX history.
Q4 2017 has been hugely successful for Disney with releases like Thor Ragnarok and Coco. This weekend’s numbers pushed the studio across the $2 billion mark in North America for the third consecutive year, the first and only studio to hold that record. Disney’s year-to-date box office stands at $2.079 billion domestic and $$3.688 billion overseas—a $5.768 billion global tally as of December 17.
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