'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' Ends 2017 by Earning More Than $1 Billion

By Edward Leano, Christian Post Contributor Tuesday, January 02, 2018

"Star Wars" movies, as surefire box-office hits, are in a league of their own. "Star Wars: The Last Jedi," the latest in the current trilogy, ended 2017 by hauling in more than US$1 billion in ticket sales.

Disney and Lucasfilms pulled in more than a billion dollars in ticket sales, as counted by worldwide gross tallies, according to Variety. The latest in the "Star Wars" series shows little sign of slowing down as it hauls in $120.4 million from global sales this past weekend, as 2017 came to a close.

In the U.S., 4,232 venues screened "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" to contribute $52.4 million across the country alone. Theaters from around the world put in another $68 million over the New Year's Eve weekend, from Friday to Sunday, Dec. 31.

Perhaps needless to say, this figure puts "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" as the top-grossing movie of the year, as it continued to lead the pack through both holiday weekends, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Overall, North American audiences account for $517 million, while other regions brought the total to over a billion with $523 million in sales, a large part of which was made up of U.K. numbers, at $67 million.

It turns out that the latest "Star Wars" movie did not even need to launch in China in 2017 to clear the $1 billion milestone, as Polygon notes. "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" now joins this exclusive billionaire club with 32 other movies, settling in at the number 24 slot as the year ends.

This year, three other movies made the mark as well. "Beauty and the Beast" hauled in $1.26 billion, while "The Fate of the Furious" tallied $1.23 billion in gross sales. "Despicable Me 3" also made the mark at $1.03 billion.

The difference between these three and "Star Wars: The Last Jedi," however, is that the Disney movie is still screening. The movie is expected to earn more as it heads to China this year.