Rogue Onesimply cannot be stopped at the box office, proving to be another massive hit for Disney and Lucasfilm. The standaloneStar Warsadventure recently won its4th weekend in a rowat the box office, which has helped push it over a very significant milestone. The movie has now officially surpassedStar Wars: The Phantom Menace, making it the second highest-grossing movie domestically in the history of the franchise.
According toBox Office Mojo,Rogue One: A Star Wars Storyhas made $477 million at the domestic box office, which easily puts it ahead of the $431 million take ofStar Wars: The Phantom Menace. That is unreasonably impressive, considering that whenEpisode Icame out it was arguably themost anticipated Star Wars movie everbe released up to that point. One could still possibly argue that noStar Warsmovie has matched that level of hype before or since, but either way, the fact thatStar Wars: Rogue Onehas already outgrossed the firstStar Warsprequel is an impressive feat.
On the worldwide side of things,Rogue One: A Star Wars Storystill has some way to go in order to catchStar Wars: The Phantom Menace, which has a total take of $983 million. As of this writing,Rogue Onehas $914 million, but the movie still has a long way to go and should easily wind up crossing the $1 billion mark, making it only the secondStar Warsmovie ever to do so. The first beingStar Wars: The Force Awakens, which went on to become the third highest-grossing movie ever made and is the single highest-grossing movie domestically, having brought in a staggering $936 million.
Nobody was expectingRogue One: A Star Wars Storyto do whatThe Force Awakens box officenumbers did, since it was the first live-actionStar Warsmovie to be released in a decade and there was a crazy amount of hype leading up to it. WhileRogue Onedid have the benefit of Darth Vader, it largely featured new characters and was the first ever theatrically releasedStar Warsmovie to take place outside of the main Skywalker saga. When taking that into account, the fact thatStar Wars: Rogue Onewill easilygross $1 billionby the end of its theatrical run should make Disney and Lucasfilm very happy.
The more than $4 billion thatDisney paid to acquire Lucasfilmback in 2012 seems to be an investment that is paying off handsomely, and there is plenty more to come. This year,Star Wars: Episode VIIIwill grace the big screen and should once again rule the month of December. The next standaloneStar Warsstory will be the upcoming youngHan Solomovie, which is currently gearing up for production and is currently slated for a May 2018, release, but it has been highly speculated that Disney will shift it to a December release, given their recent success. In as much as aStar Warsmovie can be considered a risk,Rogue One: A Star Wars Storywas a risk, but one that paid off in a big way.
