Saturday Update: Disney reports that Rogue One: A Star Wars Story bagged an excellent $71.072 million on opening day Friday. That makes it the second best December single day of all-time (behind The Force Awakens‘ $119.1 million last year), the 12th highest opening day in history (just ahead of Catching Fire‘s $70.95 million in November 2013), and the best ever single day gross for a prequel in any franchise. Rogue also comes in ahead of the $67.2 million inflation-adjusted opening day of Revenge of the Sith back in May 2005 when it opened on a Thursday.
With strong reception from fans (90 percent on Flixster, “A” CinemaScore across all audience demographics) and critics (84 percent on Rotten Tomatoes), there’s every expectation for the film to continue holding well in the days and weeks ahead. One interesting note is that it proved to have a higher share of Friday business allocated to “Friday proper” (59 percent) versus its Thursday night share than did Force Awakens last year (52 percent earned after Thursday night). Still, even with that as the most direct comparison, it’s still not an exact science given last year’s entry was a massive record-breaker as the event film of a generation.
Disney is currently projecting an opening weekend of $143.6 million, but based on yesterday’s trends we’re holding our projection closer to our final pre-release forecast at $155 million. Either way, the film is set to continue both the studio and the Star Wars franchise’s remarkable winning streaks at the box office. While not guaranteed quite yet, this could potentially become the sixth film in the series to become the top earner of its year domestically.
Meanwhile, Moana added $3.04 million for a new tally of $153.2 million, while Collateral Beauty debuted at $2.4 million in fourth place yesterday. La La Land expanded well to 200 locations with $1.36 million yesterday, while Manchester By the Sea took $1.285 million from its 1,208 locations.
Our key weekend projections based on official Friday estimates are below. Check back Sunday for updated estimates directly from the studios, followed by final results on Monday.
For media inquiries regarding Rogue One and additional box office analysis, please contact Shawn Robbins.
| # | TITLE | WEEKEND | LOCATIONS | AVG. | TOTAL | WKS. | DIST. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogue One: A Star Wars Story | $155,000,000 | — | 4,157 | — | $37,287 | $155,000,000 | 1 | Disney |
| 2 | Moana | $13,500,000 | -27% | 3,587 | -288 | $3,764 | $163,694,745 | 4 | Disney |
| 3 | Office Christmas Party | $8,900,000 | -47% | 3,210 | 0 | $2,773 | $31,968,267 | 2 | Paramount / DreamWorks |
| 4 | Collateral Beauty | $6,900,000 | — | 3,028 | — | $2,279 | $6,900,000 | 1 | Warner Bros. / New Line |
| 5 | Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them | $5,100,000 | -51% | 3,036 | -590 | $1,680 | $207,751,095 | 5 | Warner Bros. |
| 6 | Manchester By the Sea | $4,300,000 | 37% | 1,208 | 842 | $3,560 | $14,160,305 | 5 | Roadside / Amazon |
| 7 | Arrival | $3,000,000 | -46% | 2,157 | -958 | $1,391 | $86,693,367 | 6 | Paramount |
| 8 | Doctor Strange | $2,200,000 | -51% | 1,930 | -833 | $1,140 | $226,250,027 | 7 | Disney |
| 9 | Trolls | $1,400,000 | -54% | 1,714 | -1072 | $817 | $147,455,937 | 7 | Fox / DreamWorks Animation |
| 10 | Nocturnal Animals | $1,300,000 | -59% | 1,246 | -16 | $1,043 | $8,721,366 | 5 | Focus |
| 11 | Allied | $1,200,000 | -70% | 1,625 | -1393 | $738 | $38,408,917 | 4 | Paramount |
| 12 | Hacksaw Ridge | $910,000 | -60% | 1,341 | -936 | $679 | $62,808,104 | 7 | Lionsgate |
| 13 | Miss Sloane | $425,000 | -77% | 1,463 | -185 | $290 | $3,164,636 | 4 | EuropaCorp |
| # | TITLE | WEEKEND | LOCATIONS | AVG. | TOTAL | WKS. | DIST. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | La La Land | $4,400,000 | 399% | 200 | 195 | $22,000 | $5,640,166 | 2 | Lionsgate / Summit |
| 2 | Almost Christmas | $580,000 | -58% | 720 | -538 | $806 | $41,179,930 | 6 | Universal |
| # | TITLE | WEEKEND | LOCATIONS | AVG. | TOTAL | WKS. | DIST. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jackie | $550,000 | 12% | 84 | 58 | $6,548 | $1,592,735 | 3 | Fox Searchlight |
| 2 | Fences | $125,000 | — | 4 | — | $31,250 | $125,000 | 1 | Paramount |
| 3 | Lion | $100,000 | -41% | 16 | 1 | $6,250 | $671,074 | 4 | Weinstein Company |
| 4 | Shut In | $20,000 | -9% | 78 | 25 | $256 | $6,860,347 | 6 | EuropaCorp Films |
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