Some tracking services even show the stand-alone movie approaching $150 million in its domestic launch as Lucasfilm and Disney plot a series of titles expanding the ‘Star Wars’ empire.
The Force remains with Lucasfilm and Disney, according to early tracking.
Stand-alone film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story — one of the biggest box-office curiosities of the year — is projected to open to $130-million-plus in North America over the Dec. 16-18 weekend, which would mark the second-biggest December opening of all time after last year’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The movie came on tracking Tuesday morning, with one service suggesting it could even approach $150 million. (Conversely, another service has it opening in the high $120-million range, underscoring what a guessing game tracking can be.)
The pre-Christmas corridor isn’t known for huge openings, since consumers are distracted by holiday preparations. Prior to Force Awakens, no December film had ever launched north of $85 million, and that includes Avatar.
Directed by Gareth Edwards and starring Felicity Jones, Rogue One is the first in a series of planned stand-alone movies from Lucasfilm extending the Star Wars empire now that the iconic franchise has been been revived on the big screen. Rogue One focuses on the fabled mission hinted at in Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope, i.e., a group of rebels who steal the plans to the Death Star that later end up in the hands of Princess Leia.
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