Bursting through one box office record after another, Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi quickly became the highest grossing movie of 2017 – much to the surprise of no one. Currently sitting at $1.27 billion, it’s been a tremendous success by all accounts – well, maybe except for its stumble in China – and the folks at Disney are no doubt very, very happy about it. But it turns out that even after all that, Episode VIII will still fall just short of where initial estimates pegged it at.
If you recall, analysts predicted The Last Jedi to conclude its theatrical run in the $1.6 billion range, which could have made it one of the top 5 highest grossing films of all-time. Now, however, those figures have been revised, with the sequel expected to finish up at $1.3 billion. Sure, that’s not a huge difference, but it is interesting to learn as for the past few weeks, all we’ve heard about is how much money the latest chapter in the Skywalker saga was making.
The reasons for it running out of steam stem from the China debacle, which we mentioned above, fan backlash and also the fact that it faced some unexpectedly formidable competition in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. While $1.3 billion is certainly nothing to scoff at, it still is about $700 million less than The Force Awakens made, making this the biggest sequel to sequel drop in history. Then again. Abrams’ effort also had the advantage of being the first Star Wars movie in a decade, which clearly helped.
And again, $1.3 billion is absolutely terrific, and a number that the studio should be very proud of. In fact, the future is looking brighter than ever for Lucasfilm’s crown jewel. We’ve got Solo: A Star Wars Story zooming into theaters in May, followed by Episode IX in December of 2019. Not to mention that whole new trilogy that Rian Johnson’s planning, too.
Suffice it to say, there’s a lot to look forward to from that galaxy far, far away and even despite all the controversy and divisive reactions it spurred, Star Wars: The Last Jedi has proven to be a total success and yet another win for this most beloved of cinematic franchises.
