'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' Surpasses Box Office Success of 'Star Wars: Rogue One'

By Vianne Ilagan, Christian Post Contributor Thursday, January 04, 2018

After being declared the highest grossing film of 2017, "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" has now surpassed the global box office success of "Star Wars: Rogue One." The second movie in the current "Star Wars" trilogy has only been in theaters for less than three weeks, but it has already shattered box office records.

On Jan. 1, "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" has officially passed "Star Wars: Rogue One" in terms of global revenue when it pulled in $1,056,057,273 worldwide, narrowly exceeding "Star Wars: Rogue One's" $1,056,057,228 revenue throughout its run. Before the latest film in the franchise broke "Star Wars: Rogue One's" record, the latter was the second highest grossing "Star Wars" movie of all time while the former was the third. Both films are behind "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," which still sits on the top spot.

According to reports, the split between the domestic and international revenue of both movies are almost identical in terms of percentage, but "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" has been able to draw more audiences, leading to the difference in numbers. Foreign markets are reportedly more interested in "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" because it features legacy characters in it.

Despite being in theaters for only three weeks, "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" has also already managed to become the 19th largest global release of all time, with $1.09 billion global revenue as of Wednesday, breaking the records of "The Dark Knight Rises" and "Toy Story 3." The movie is still expected to climb up the 17th spot this week and surpass "Transformers: Age of Extinction" and "Skyfall."

"Star Wars: The Last Jedi" has yet to open in Chinese theaters. It will premiere in the country on Jan. 5. Since the Chinese market is the second biggest in the world, the film's global revenue is expected to even skyrocket in the coming weeks.