Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is halfway to becoming Disney’s seventh $1 billion movie of 2019.
Disney said on Thursday that the total global earnings for the final chapter of the Skywalker saga have already surpassed the $500 million mark. It has grossed $258.9 million in North America and $258.9 million overseas, bringing its worldwide gross through Wednesday to $516.8 million.
Opened in U.S. theaters on December 20th, the J.J. Abrams-directed movie gained momentum at the box office this week when it hauled in $32 million in the U.S. on Christmas Day — the second-highest single-day gross on that holiday in box-office history. The record for the highest single-day gross on Christmas Day is held by Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which garnered $49.3 million on Christmas Day in 2015.
Overseas, The Rise of Skywalker earned $16.8 million on Christmas Day, which is 10% of its opening weekend. Though cinemas were closed on Christmas Day in the U.K., the country currently has the biggest ticket sales ($36 million) among all international markets. Completing the Top 5 overseas markets through Wednesday are Germany ($29.3 million), France ($22.8 million), Japan ($19.8 million) and Australia ($15.5 million).
When comparing the first eight days of The Rise of Skywalker and its prequel Star Wars: The Last Jedi at the box office, the saga-ender is currently running about 15% below the latter. While it’s hard to determine the exact reason behind this decline in figures, the not-so-great reviews by critics have definitely affected the performance of the movie.
Critics gave the movie a 55% “Rotten” score on Rotten Tomatoes — a significant plunge from the scores for Force Awakens and Last Jedi, which have 93% and 91% scores respectively. Though audiences gave the film an 86% on the site, the movie received a B+ CinemaScore from moviegoers — the one and only Star Wars film from Disney to receive a grade less than A.
Starring Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, and many others, The Rise of Skywalker finds the surviving Resistance facing the First Order once more as Rey (Ridley), Finn (Boyega), and Poe Dameron’s (Isaac) continue their respective journeys.