Rise of Skywalker’ rings up second-best Christmas box office ever

“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” picked up momentum and logged the second-best Christmas Day ever at the domestic box office.
The finale of the nine-movie Skywalker saga earned $32 million on Wednesday, according to Comscore. That’s well behind the record-holder, 2015’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” which grossed $49.3 million on Christmas, but ahead of recent December-released “Stars Wars” films “The Last Jedi” ($27.4 million in 2017) and “Rogue One” ($25.8 million in 2016).
After six days, “The Rise of Skywalker” has earned about $259 million domestically, and $516 million internationally, putting it well on pace to become Walt Disney Co.’s DIS, +0.20% seventh billion-dollar movie released this year.
“The Rise of Skywalker” earned $175 million in its opening weekend — the third-best movie opening this year, but a disappointing total by “Star Wars” standards. It wasn’t helped by the worst critical reviews for a “Star Wars” movie since “The Phantom Menace” in 1999.
Analysts last week said they weren’t particularly concerned about a slower opening weekend, predicting ticket sales would be more spread out over the week, as schools closed for winter break.
Overall, movie-goers spent $80 million on Christmas Day, up over last year, but below the record $103.3 million in 2015. Sony’s SNE, -0.24% Sony Pictures releases took the next two spots Wednesday: “Jumanji: The Next Level,” with $12.5 million, and “Little Women,” with $6.4 million.