Rogue One: Star Wars spin-off set for huge box office haul while Will Smith's Collateral Beauty falters
The drama is on track to become Smith’s worst wide opening release of all time
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Your support makes all the difference.Considering how quickly Star Wars: The Force Awakens became the second highest grossing film of all time, expectations are high for Rogue One, the first spin-off from the main saga series.
Disney has acknowledged on several occasions the film won’t gross the same numbers a Force Awakens, yet the numbers remain significantly high.
According to Deadline, Rogue One will likely finish the weekend with a domestic US total of $155.7m thanks to a huge $71m Friday, the 12th best opening day ever and second best for December, only behind Force Awakens. The spin-off was previously expected to finish the weekend between $140m and $150m.
What’s perhaps more impressive is that tickets sales dropped just 35% going into Saturday, besting Force Awakens 43% drop over the same time frame.
Working against Rogue One is the school timetable: only 48% of schools are finished for the holidays, while 77% were done for Force Awakens. Last year’s film also had a far bigger budget, rumoured to be over $300m, while Rogue One was done made for $200m.
Meanwhile, Will Smith’s new film Collateral Beauty - co-starring Kate Winslet, Keira Knightley, Helen Mirren, Edward Norton, Michael Peña and Naomie Harris - has been much less successful, becoming Smith’s worst wide opening release of all time.
The ensemble film looks set to gross just $6.9m over the weekend, far worse than the expected $11–13 million. Analysts have put the low showing down to the initial negative critical and public response to the film.
Rogue One is currently showing in UK cinemas, while Collateral Beauty reaches UK cinemas 30 December.
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