For the first time since the movie hit theaters on December 20,The Rise of Skywalkerwas not in the top ten at the domestic box office over the weekend. The finale to the Skywalker saga earned another $1.3 million over the Valentine’s Day/President’s Day weekend, which was good enough for the number 15 spot, sandwiched betweenGretel & Hansel($1.4 million) andJojo Rabbit($1 million). Yet,Jumanji: The Next Level, which came out a week before Episode IX, is still sitting comfortably in the top ten.
With another $5.5 million, representing less than a 1 percent drop week-to-week,Jumanji: The Next Levellanded in the eight spot this weekend in its tenth week of release following its debut on December 13.Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalkerwas in its ninth week. This is not to say that the latest from director J.J. Abrams and Lucasfilm is a financial failure. It’s not. To date, it has grossed $1.06 billion and has grossed more thanRogue One($1.05) billion and Solo ($392 million). But this does offer some interesting perspective on the state of the franchise. And it also proves, once again, that The Rock should never be underestimated.
Jumanji: The Next Level, directed by Jake Kasdan, hasgrossed a truly impressive $779.7 millionand counting. While it likely won’t catch its predecessor, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle ($962.1 million), it’s undeniably an impressive success story. WhenWelcome to the Junglehit theaters in 2017, there was concern that Star Wars: The Last Jedi would overshadow it. It turns out there was room for both franchises and that’s why Sony didn’t shy away from going up againstThe Rise of Skywalkerat thebox officethis time around.The Last Jediwrapped up its run with $1.33 billion worldwide.
Speaking ofThe Last Jedi, director Rian Johnson’s second entry in the Star Wars sequel trilogyproved to be quite divisive, with critics generally loving it, while audiences were not unified in that feeling.The Rise of Skywalkerhad the inverse issue, with critics wildly divided and moviegoers generally seeming pleased enough, if not all of them over the moon about it. Interestingly enough, Johnson’s latest movie,Knives Out, which was released during Thanksgiving, is still chugging along and nabbed another $2.1 million this weekend, bringing its total $303 million worldwide.
Knives Out, coming off of its Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay, was also playing on 1,035 screens in its 12th week of release, compared toStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’s 992 screens. Again, more than anything, these are just interesting observations above all else. All three of these movies have proved to be successful, relative to budgets and expectations. The numbers used in this report were provided byBox Office Mojo.
