Rogue One: A Star Wars Story always had a lot to live up to. Not only was it the latest edition in the long line of Star Wars films, but it's the first to exist outside of the classic Skywalker Saga. Though the film has many connections to A New Hope and the rest of the existing Star Wars universe, its position as a standalone made for Lucasfilm's riskiest proposition yet. After the massive success of last year's The Force Awakens, expectations and worries for the new film were at an all time high.
Over the past two weeks, fans the world over have breathed a collective sigh of relief as the film premiered to rapturous approval from critics, casual moviegoers, and diehards alike. Even still, the film had a long way to go if it wanted to top The Force Awakens' global box office haul of over $2 billion. Considering it's following the first new Star Wars film in 10 years, Rogue One is unlikely to outperform its predecessor. It's off to a pretty stellar start, however, courtesy of the latest numbers.
Comicbook.com is reporting that thanks to yesterday's haul, Gareth Edwards' Rogue One has now made $358.6 million domestically and $295.2 million internationally, bolstered by its opening yesterday in South Korea. All told, that's a worldwide total of $653.8 million for the new film, making it one of the most successful films of the year both at home and abroad.
Experts are estimating that the movie will easily break the $700 million mark once today's numbers are tallied, and it's likely to continue growing from there with the weekend ahead and the upcoming movie dead zone that is January. The even better news is that the film still hasn't opened in China, the world's fastest growing cinema market. Once that happens, it'll be no time at all before Rogue One cracks the $1 billion mark.
With a budget of $200 million, the film has given Disney quite the return on their investment. The success of the standalone will surely help the other Star Wars spinoffs in development to start moving forward. We already know that the Han Solo movie is well on its way. Rogue One's popularity will likely help the third anthology film, set to arrive in 2020 after Episode IX, start gaining momentum.
All in all, it's been an incredibly good year for Disney, as their films - along with those from their subsidiaries, Pixar, Marvel Studios, and Lucasfilm - have helped to make them the first studio to earn $7 billion globally in a year. What's more, Rogue One proved that the studio could make interesting, original content (albeit based off of a massively popular franchise) and still make heaps of money. Hopefully, Lucasfilm will use this victory to start pushing further and further into the story possibilities that the Star Wars universe has to offer. When they do, we'll be ready with all the latest news on the franchise.
Source: Comicbook.com
