'Last Jedi' Rakes in $45 Million in One Night
by EG
It's no surprise that Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi had a giant opening night. The film took in at least $45 million on Thursday, a figure that will make it second only to The Force Awakens on the list of all-time openings. Expect more huge numbers as the weekend progresses; The Last Jedi is expected to take in more than $200 million in the United States by Monday.
Disney and Lucasfilm's Star Wars: The Last Jedi is soaring to a near-record $45 million in Thursday previews, according to early estimates.
That would be the second-best preview number of all time behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens. A final tally will be released Friday morning, and could come in higher.
The franchise's eighth installment is expected to make a domestic debut in the $200 million range, making it the strongest opening of the year so far. The Force Awakens — bringing the franchise back to life following Disney's acqusition of Lucasfilm — began opening in select foreign markets midweek, and is projected to gross $425 million-plus through Sunday to secure one of the five best worldwide openings of all time, not accounting for inflation.
Last Jedi's domestic preview numbers compare well with those of recent Star Wars titles. J.J. Abrams' Force Awakens earned a record $57 million in previews in December 2015, and went on to earn $247.9 million in its opening weekend to become the No. 1 film of all time domestically with $936.7 million, not accounting for inflation. And last year, standalone film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story drew $29 million in previews during the same weekend, and went on to earn $155.1 million in its opening weekend and gross $532.1 million in its domestic run. Globally, the films earned $2.1 billion and $1.1 billion, respectively.
In terms of Thursday previews, Last Jedi looks to supplant the final Harry Potter pic, which currently holds the record for the second-best Thursday-night preview gross with $43.5 million.
The Force returns to theaters just as Disney announced its $52.4 billion bid to buy major 21st Century Fox assets, including the film studio, home of George Lucas' first six Star Wars movies prior to selling Lucasfilm to Disney.
Get the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.
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