‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ Lands at #1 at North American Box Office

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story landed at the top of the North American weekend box office with a strong $155 million opening.

The film, which stars Felicity Jones, Forest Whitaker, and Diego Luna, has earned the second-biggest December opening behind last year’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Rogue One actually beat studio expectations of $150 million, and it has already brought in a gross of $290.5 million worldwide (costing $200 million to make). Just with Thursday screenings alone, the movie made in $29 million.

Meanwhile, Disney also held on to the second spot at the box office with their animated film Moana, which made $11.7 million in its fourth week of release. The Georgia-filmed Office Christmas Party came in at third with $8.5 million, and premiering in fourth was Will Smith’s Collateral Beauty with a disappointing $7 million (production budget $36 million).

Fantastic Beasts capped out the top five with $5 million in its fifth week of release. Two films in limited release that are worth noting, Manchester by the Sea lands at sixth with 4.1 million playing at only 1,208 theaters across the country (for comparison Rogue One is playing in 4,157 theaters), and in at seventh is La La Land with $4 million – which is an impressive haul considering it’s only playing in 200 theaters nationwide.

Falling to eight was Arrival with $2.7 million in its sixth week of release, yet still one of our favorite films of the year!