Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opens in Australia with $6.41 million
Despite a robust opening day in Australia, the latest Star Wars movie couldn’t match the heights of its predecessors.
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Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opened in Australia with $6.41 million in box office takings on its first day.
The earnings make it the sixth highest ever opening day in Australia, behind Avengers: Endgame, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Avengers: Infinity War, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 and Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
While $6.41 million is a robust opening day, it’s the lowest opening day among the three new Star Wars movies, not counting the spin-offs, Rogue One and Solo: A Stars Wars Story. It’s well behind Avengers: Endgame ’s record of $10.29 million and The Force Awakens’ $9.45 million. It even fell behind The Last Jedi’s $7.06 million opening day.
Analysts had forecast a North America opening weekend of $290 million ($US200 million), and should cross the $US1 billion mark globally by the end of its cinematic run.
The Force Awakens, released in 2015, closed on worldwide ticket sales of $US2.06 billion. In Australia, The Force Awakens took in $94 million and remains the second-highest grossing movie of all time behind Avatar.
The Last Jedi took $US1.33 billion at the box office worldwide.
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The space epic is the culmination of 42 years of Star Wars movies and the final chapter of the retroactively named Skywalker Saga which started with George Lucas’ Star Wars in 1977.
The Rise of Skywalker will wrap up the stories of a new generation of characters introduced into the franchise by J.J. Abrams in The Force Awakens including Rey (Daisy Ridley), Finn (John Boyega) and Poe (Oscar Isaac) and features appearances from returning favourites such as Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams).
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The film wraps up nine movies and marks the end of the Skywalker Saga before Lucasfilm moves onto other stories in the Star Wars universe.
Presently, the film has attracted mixed reviews from critics, ranging from those who praised Abrams for satisfactorily wrapping up the saga for fans to those who were said it was repetitive and lacked imagination.
The previous instalment in the franchise, The Last Jedi, was divisive among some fans.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is in cinemas now.
Originally published as Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opens in Australia with $6.41 million