Via BoxOffficeMojo.com:

Disney’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker led the weekend box office, though there is likely to be a bit of pushing and pulling from analysts as to whether the film’s $175.5 million debut is a worthy opening for the final installment in the now 42-year-old Skywalker saga. Meanwhile, Universal’s Cats fell well short of expectations and appears to have already been left out in the rain.

With a $175.5 million three-day debut, Disney’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker delivered the third largest December opening of all-time. While the performance tops the studio’s conservative, $165 million opening, many, including BoxOfficeMojo, expected the film to top $200 million for the weekend and the slide to $175.5 million is a bit below where expectations were just yesterday, when it appeared the film would open anywhere from $190-195 million after Friday estimates. The slide began following the film’s opening day, which was pretty much on par with recent Star Wars releases, which saw preview grosses making up 44% of the film’s opening day. However, it is the only Star Wars release of the five released by Disney thus far, to see the Friday gross make up over 50% of the film’s total opening weekend, which brings into question what kind of impact word of mouth will have on the film’s final gross.

Internationally, Rise of Skywalker delivered a $198 million debut overseas from 52 markets, giving the film a $373.5 million global launch. Leading the way was the UK with a $26.8 million opening followed by Germany ($21.8m), France ($15.2m), Japan ($14.6m), Australia ($12.6m), China ($12.1m), Spain ($7.6m), Mexico ($7.4m), Brazil ($5.9m), Italy ($5.9m), Russia ($5.8m) and Sweden ($4.6m). The film is now open in 98% of the international marketplace with January debuts still set for Vietnam, Korea and the Philippines.

Click here for the full story and comparisons to the other films at BoxOfficeMojo.com