Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker passes $225 million mark at box office
The movie earned $20 million domestically on Dec. 24, the second-biggest Christmas Eve take ever.
- Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year" award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is climbing the box office charts.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker may not be the most successful movie in the final Star Wars trilogy, but it's still topping the current box-office galaxy. The film held on for a strong Tuesday, earning $20 million domestically -- the second-largest Christmas Eve gross of all time. The highest ever was the $27.4 million Christmas Eve take for 2015's Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Tuesday's numbers pushed The Rise of Skywalker's five-day total to $226.85 million in the US and Canada. There was no international update for Tuesday, but the film's receipts in total had reached $433.4 million on Monday.
The long-awaited film's first weekend raked in $177.4 million domestically and another $198.8 million internationally, according to Disney reports finalized Tuesday. By contrast, 2017's Star Wars: The Last Jedi earned $220 million domestically in its first weekend, and The Force Awakens earned $247 million.
Although it may be an underachiever in its own film family, The Rise of Skywalker is doing just fine. It had the 12th biggest opening weekend of all time and the third biggest of 2019, trailing only Avengers: Endgame and The Lion King. It's the seventh Disney release of the year to rake in over $100 million in its first weekend. (Don't even ask about the film version of the Broadway musical Cats, which has only earned $12 million worldwide and cost $95 million to make.)
Move outside of the three trilogy films, and The Rise of Skywalker is performing well in the Star Wars universe. CNET sister site ComicBook.com points out that The Rise of Skywalker passed the four-day totals for 2016's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and came close to that of 2018's Solo: A Star Wars Story.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is now showing in 46 international markets. It earned a disappointing $12.9 million in China, where according to The Hollywood Reporter, it was coming in fourth, behind three Chinese-made films.
About 10,000 deployed US troops will be able to see the film for free in Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, United Arab Emirates and undisclosed locations courtesy of Disney and the Army & Air Force Exchange Service.
Originally published Dec. 20.
Updates, Dec. 22, 24 and 25: Adds latest box-office figures.
