"Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" has opened in theaters and has met huge success in the box office this weekend. The movie has raked in a humongous $155 million on its U.S. weekend launch. Thanks to a great stand-alone story, the promised appearance of Darth Vader and positive film reviews, the movie was well-received by Star Wars fans all over the world.
The Movie Topped All Others
A report from Variety says that "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" has grossed a global total of $290.5 million. The movie has not opened in China yet. This country is the next biggest market after North America. In that case, some analysts believe that the total figure may still shoot up significantly once the movie opens in Chinese theaters come Jan. 6, 2017.
The box office success of "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" was helped by the reluctance of other film studios to fight the movie head-on. "Collateral Beauty," a movie that has Will Smith as its main star, hit the theaters last week. But it was affected by negative reviews and consequently only managed to get a paltry $7 million. Disney's "Moana" on the other hand only got $11 million.
Luke Skywalker Was Exhilarated By The Movie
Even one of the main characters of the space film saga, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), was exhilarated by "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story." In his Twitter account, Hamill posted: "I'm euphoric & exhilarated! Ingenious the way it deepens & expands the #SWUniverse yet works as a stand-alone movie $RogueOneDerful#Triumpjh."
While its performance at the box office is amazing, "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" has its share of problems. Thematically, it is more of a standard war movie than a film in the genre of the "Star Wars" space saga. It is actually a bit darker than episode 7 of the movie franchise. And it featured newer characters which fans of the franchise knew nothing about. Watch the trailer below to get a taste of what this movie is all about.