Lucasfilm’s “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” is completing the extended
Christmas box office period with an estimated 5-day total of $135 million, bringing its 10-day domestic total to $361.8 million.After the Skywalker Saga finale earned $32 million on Christmas Day, some industry estimates were projecting that J.J. Abrams’ film could pull ahead of the domestic pace of its predecessor, “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” despite having a significantly lower opening weekend. But as the weekend progressed, those estimates were quickly dialed down. “Last Jedi” had a 10-day total of $368 million, and that was before a Christmas Day surge that saw the film’s domestic total rise to $464 million after a full two weeks in theaters.Still, “Rise of Skywalker” took in $72 million for its Friday to Sunday second weekend, a 59% drop from its $177 million opening that is consistent with other blockbusters that have opened at that level. Globally, the film now has a total of $725 million with domestic market share still nearly even with an overseas total of $363 million.Taking second is Sony’s “Jumanji: The Next Level,” which is proving to be a strong alternative to “Star Wars” as its distributor had hoped. With a $35.3 million 3-day/$59 million 5-day weekend, the “Jumanji” sequel now has a domestic total of $175 million.Adding to Sony’s big Christmas is the success of Columbia/Regency’s “Little
Women,” which opened on Christmas Day on 3,308 screens and took the No. 4 spot on the charts with a $29 million 5-day opening. That beats industry projections for an opening in the low $20 million range and puts Greta Gerwig’s likely Best Picture Oscar contender in strong position to leg out to a domestic total of over $100 million. Word of mouth has been incredibly strong with an A- on CinemaScore and critics and audiences scores on Rotten Tomatoes of over 90%.Also opening this weekend and taking the No. 5 spot is Disney/Fox’s “Spies in Disguise,” which is opening slightly below industry projections with a $22 million 5-day opening from 3,502 screens and a $38 million global opening. Reception has been strong for the Blue Sky/Chernin-produced animated film with an A- on CinemaScore and 72% RT critics score.However, “Spies” is facing competition for families from “Jumanji” and the still surging “Frozen II,” which took in $26 million over the 5-day period to take third on the box office charts. “Frozen II” has now passed the domestic run of the original “Frozen” with $421 million and is $57 million away from passing the global total with $1.21 billion grossed after six weekends.More to come…Read original story ‘Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker’ Pulls In $135 Million During Extended Box Office Weekend At TheWrap