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If there were any questions as to whether a ‘Star Wars’ movie that wasn’t a direct part of the main saga could succeed, well ‘Rogue One’ proved that one could and did.  This “anthology” film Forced its way to a $155M opening.  It falls a tad short of ‘The Force Awakens’, but that was part of the main storyline and was… I’m just gonna say it, the first GOOD ‘Star Wars’ movie in over 30 years.  ‘Rogue One’ was never going to top that, but it came damn near close!

The die-hards turned out and the good thing is, they loved it!  ‘Rogue One’ earned an “A” CinemaScore meaning that it could lead to repeat viewings like ‘The Force Awakens’ and positive word-of-mouth to those who might be a little unsure.

Disney domestic distribution chief Dave Hollis said:

“With the standalone movie, part of the conceit was to create a way in for the uninitiated in Star Wars. We wanted to tee this up as an event. And a response like this shows that Rogue One is part of this unbelievable brand.”

It seems that ‘Star Wars’ fans are ravenous for anything pertaining it it, whether it’s part of the main trilogy-of-trilogies or something just adjacent.

‘Rogue One’ was directed by Gareth Edwards and stars Felicity Jones, Mads Mikkelsen, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Forest Whitaker, Diego Luna, Riz Ahmed, Jiang Wen and the voice of Alan Tudyk.

Speaking of, can we lobby for a Best Supporting Actor nomination for Krennic’s CAPE?!

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#WURQ!  #jodhpurs

Here is the Top Five:

  1. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Disney) – $155M
  2. Moana (Disney) – $11.66M
  3. Office Christmas Party (Paramount/Dreamworks) – $8.45M
  4. Collateral Beauty (Warner Brothers/New Line) – $8.45M
  5. Fantastic Beats and Where to Find Them (Warner Brothers) – $5M

As you can see, ‘Rogue One’ beat out the nearest competitor, ‘Moana’ (also by Disney) by well over $100M.  Like a lot.

Next week sees the opening of ‘Passengers’, which has gotten pretty bad reviews, so ‘Rogue One’ may not have much to worry about.  Also releasing on Christmas weekend are ‘Sing’, ‘A Monster Calls’, ‘Assassin’s Creed’, ‘Patriot’s Day’, ‘Hidden Figures’, and ‘Why Him?’.  Good luck.

Did you catch ‘Rogue One’ this weekend? Or anything else?

Source: Deadline