Rogue One: A Star Wars Story continues to rack up huge box office numbers in its fourth week in theaters as it hurtles toward $1 billion worldwide. While the movie may not reach the massive totals of The Force Awakens, it’s still generating significant ticket sales in the U.S. Rogue One’s massive success in just its opening month has it already breaking the top 10 all-time in domestic box office totals and becoming the second-most successful Star Wars movie in the U.S.
Despite the continued success of Rogue One, the first standalone movie in the Star Wars franchise had some serious competition for the top spot in the domestic box office for its fourth weekend. Oscar-contending space race drama Hidden Figures narrowly won the Friday box office in the U.S., which gave it a good chance to unseat the box office champion. However, Rogue One appears to have ridden a late surge to continue its streak at the top spot since its release.
Variety reported on Sunday that Rogue One narrowly edged out Hidden Figures by just $200,000 to win the North American weekend box office for a fourth straight week. Rogue One totaled $22 million to Hidden Figures’ $21.8 million, despite the former playing at 4,175 theater locations compared to the latter’s 2,471 theaters. The report added that the close race could mean a reversal in the top two spots by the time the full weekend numbers are in.
The report from Variety also said that Rogue One reached $31.1 million in its opening weekend in China - which is well short of The Force Awakens’ $53.2 million in that market a year ago, but still a large number compared to its totals in other countries. Rogue One’s domestic total is now $477.3 million, as it trails Finding Dory by about $10 million for the seventh spot all-time in the U.S. box office. It still has a ways to go to reach The Dark Knight’s domestic box office total of $534 million.
Universal’s Sing came in a close third with a $19.6 million weekend gross, while the debuting Underworld: Blood Wars and Oscar-contending La La Land rounded out the top-five with $13.1 million and $10 million, respectively. At $914.4 million worldwide, Rogue One is officially in the top five global releases of 2016. Disney now owns all five spots in that regard, led by Captain America: Civil War, Finding Dory, Zootopia, The Jungle Book, and Rogue One.
The only thing holding Rogue One back from potentially larger box office totals is the weather, Variety reported. Widespread snowfall in the eastern United States caused an estimated 15 percent drop in total box office numbers, according to comScore. Rogue One’s run at the top of the U.S. box office may not last much longer, as indicated by its narrow victory over Hidden Figures despite screening in nearly twice as many theaters. But as it nears the $1 billion mark worldwide, the newest Star Wars adventure is already a global success.
Source: Variety
