Everyone knew Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker would top the box office charts again in its second weekend. The questions were 1) how much would it make, 2) how much would it drop from Week 1 to Week 2, and 3) how would it compare to the second weekend performances of past Star Wars movies.
So let's get into that. But first, check out the chart showing the other players in the box office game this holiday weekend, including newcomers Little Women and Spies in Disguise.
Both Little Women and Spies in Disguise just opened during Christmas week, with Little Women surprising everyone (including its studio) with such a strong opening against the big guns. Also, Uncut Gems keeps crushing, opening in 2,343 more theaters this week for a massive +3,857% box office gain. Trouble is, Adam Sandler fans may be confused by the movie, or maybe there's a different reason for that critic-to-fan disparity.
Also, it's worth noting that Little Women just barely edged out Frozen II, which continues to perform like you might expect a Frozen movie to perform in the holidays. Also, Jumanji: The Next Level is quietly slaying, and I say quietly because all of the talk is about Star Wars -- and the new movie's merits, demerits, and money -- and not Jumanji. Remember when Welcome to the Jungle shocked everyone by doing so well? No one is surprised anymore -- and it has yet to take over as #1 -- so it's going largely unheralded, apart from the cast's promotions.
Back to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker! That $72 million above is from this domestic three-day weekend. The five-day total from Christmas is $134.7 million. So far, Rise of Skywalker has made $361.8 million at the domestic box office and $363M worldwide for a total of roughly $724.8 million so far, per The Numbers.
Pretty great, right? Sure, that $361.8 million through 10 days is $6.3 million behind Star Wars: The Last Jedi at the same point in time, per Deadline. But Rise of Skywalker had a much lower second weekend drop than The Last Jedi.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi had a larger opening weekend than Rise of Skywalker ($220,009,584 vs. $177,383,864) but also a steeper drop in Week 2. The Last Jedi made $71.6 million in its second weekend, a drop of 67.5%. The Rise of Skywalker's $72 million second weekend was a drop of 59%.
So in that sense, The Rise of Skywalker scored a minor second weekend win. However, Star Wars: The Force Awakens had a monster domestic opening of $247,966,675 and only dropped 40% in its second weekend. But Force Awakens is also the #1 domestic release of all time. It's that impossibly perfect sibling you really can't compare yourself to. Here's something I found interesting -- Rogue One also had the same roughly 59% second weekend drop as The Rise of Skywalker.
But yeah, by losing about $105,000,000 from $177,383,864 to $72 million, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker joined "The $100 Million Losers Club," as Forbes decided to call it. Here are others to face a $100M+ second weekend drop:
Avengers: Endgame - $209.7 million dropStar Wars: The Last Jedi - $148.4 million dropAvengers: Infinity War - $142.9 million dropThe Lion King - $115.2 million dropAvengers: Age of Ultron - $113.6 million dropCaptain America: Civil War - $106.5 million dropStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - $105.3 million dropThe Avengers - $104.3 million dropIncredibles 2 - $102.4 million dropJurassic World - $102.2 million dropIron Man 3 - $101.6 million drop
You can only drop $100 million in your second weekend if you had A LOT to start with, so props to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and all of the other films on that list. It is in good company.
I know some people were planning to wait until the crowds died down to see Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, spoilers be damned, so they were part of the second weekend crowd. What about from here? Does Episode IX have enough repeat viewing value to stay strong into 2020? Will more people who waited to see it show up over new year's? How many people are actually waiting to see the movie until it arrives on Disney+? I've been curious about that.
