With the summer blockbuster season now behind us, moviegoers around the world are beginning to turn their attention to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and for good reason. As one of the biggest releases of 2019, if not the biggest, Episode IX is set to conclude the Sequel Trilogy and with less than a month to go now before it arrives, excitement is really starting to ramp up.
Thankfully, Disney and Lucasfilm are well-aware of all the hype surrounding the blockbuster and have really been picking things up with the marketing as of late. However, despite what’s been a solid campaign so far, the early tracking numbers for Rise of Skywalker are a bit on the underwhelming side.
The Hollywood Reporter has the scoop, with the outlet telling us that the film is currently on pace to earn at least $175 million domestically during its opening weekend, with the potential to hit $200 million if all goes well. For just about any other movie, that’d be fantastic, but when compared to how the last two entires in the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy performed, it’s definitely a bit underwhelming.
The Force Awakens did $248 million back in 2015, while The Last Jedi managed to snag $220 million in 2017. So, even if The Rise of Skywalker hits the high end of its estimates, it’d still finish behind each of its predecessors. That being said, we should note that both the first and second entries in the Sequel Trilogy saw similar early forecasts, meaning that Episode IX could still go on to match or even surpass TFA and TLJ.
Then again, with Jumanji: The Next Level also due out around the same time, the film will have some tough competition. And besides, we imagine Disney was probably hopeful that the initial projections would at least be above $200 million, given where the other movies landed.
Still, hopes remain high that Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will at least be able to close out the saga in style and get the franchise back on track after what’s been a bumpy few years. And if it’s able to crush it at the box office, too, then all the better.