After so much hype beforehand, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has certainly not arrived to the level of acclaim and celebration that fans – or Lucasfilm – were hoping for. There’ve been some very harsh reviews, with the movie earning the second lowest Rotten Tomatoes rating of the entire franchise, and what’s more, while we’ve yet to get the figures for its US opening, Episode IX has resolutely flopped over in China.
According to Variety, Rise of Skywalker has raked up just $2.2 million in the region so far, opening to fourth place behind three Chinese movies at the box office. As per online ticketing agency Maoyan, J.J. Abrams’ closer to the Skywalker saga is looking set to gross a paltry $18 million across its entire run in China, which would make it comfortably the worst-performing entry of the sequel trilogy at the Chinese box office.
The Force Awakens earned $52.3 million in its opening weekend, accruing $126 million overall, while Rogue One opened to $30.6 million and ended with $69.4 million. Meanwhile, The Last Jedi kicked off with $28.7 million and finished up with $42.6 million. Even Solo had a stronger opening in China, with its measly figure of $3.3 million.
As you can see from those numbers, Star Wars fever has clearly been waning in China with every successive entry in the franchise, meaning that now that we’re at the fifth installment of the Disney era, it’s sinking like a stone. For the record, the three movies that smashed Rise at the box office this week are Donnie Yen’s Ip Man 4: The Finale (which earned $10.3 million), crime thriller Sheep Without A Shepherd ($4.57 million), and New Zealand-set romance Only Cloud Knows ($2.57 million).
The good news is that Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is going down a whole lot better everywhere else, with it expected to earn between $170-$200 million in the US alone this weekend. As such, its global gross is anticipated to be on par with The Last Jedi‘s.