Today’s the day, folks.
December 15th is here and with it comes the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi in North America. Buoyed by stellar reviews, the Lucasfilm sequel has been projected for a huge $200m domestic haul, thereby pushing its estimated total close to $425 million. Not bad for an opening weekend, and at least based on the preliminary figures relayed by Forbes, The Last Jedi is well on its way to achieving that historic feat.
Rian Johnson’s ballsy follow-up came out of the blocks strong and managed to collect a whopping $45-50 million from Thursday previews in North America. The final tally is yet to be determined, so that number could scale higher or lower depending on ticket sales and other key variables.
Either way, it’s an impressive debut for Star Wars: The Last Jedi – even if that high-end estimate is still $7 million lower than The Force Awakens, which held the distinction of being the first Star Wars movie in over a decade back in 2015. Rogue One, meanwhile, scored $29 million from Thursday previews last December.
Forbes also attempted to gauge The Last Jedi‘s opening day performance. After some number crunching, the outlet claimed that the Rian Johnson-directed sequel would lift around $112 million on Friday, meaning that aforementioned $200 million target is certainly within reach. This, coupled with the fact that Star Wars: The Last Jedi has been screening overseas since as far back as Wednesday, all but confirms that Lucasfilm has another million-dollar hit on its hand. Hell, we wouldn’t be all that surprised if the film’s total cume broke past $1 billion.
With a monster-sized Thursday already under its belt, Star Wars: The Last Jedi has officially begun its box office climb. And we’ll be bringing you all the latest as the sequel lays claims to the festive corridor.
