“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” tops global box office with $914 mln

PanARMENIAN.Net - Disney-Lucasfilm’s “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” has opened with $31 million in China during the Friday-Sunday weekend, driving the tentpole to $914.4 million in worldwide box office, Variety said.

The eighth “Star Wars” movie topped the international chart with $56.6 million during the weekend. That was 25% above Fox’s video game adaptation “Assassin’s Creed,” which took in $45 million from 10,487 screens in 68 markets.

“Rogue One” now has $437.1 million internationally to go along with a domestic total of $477.3 million, the eighth-largest of all time. China is already the sixth-largest international market, trailing only the U.K. with $73.3 million, Germany with $41.2 million, France with $33.2 million, Australia with $32 million, and Japan with $31.4 million.

“Rogue One,” the first major Hollywood title to hit China in 2017, has not performed as well as “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” when it opened on the Saturday of the same weekend a year ago and took in $53.2 million in its first two days on its way to a $124 million total. Disney held a Dec. 21 premiere in Beijing with director Gareth Edwards and stars Felicity Jones, Donnie Yen, and Jiang Wen.

“Rogue One” is already the 41st-highest grosser in worldwide box office, surpassing the entire run of “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.”

“Assassin’s Creed” nearly doubled its total international gross this weekend, pushing its number to $98 million. Russia led the way with a first-place launch of $9.4 million, followed by $6.8 million in the U.K., $4.6 million in Australia, $3.8 million in Italy, and $3.7 million in Mexico.

“Assassin’s Creed,” based on the popular Ubisoft video game with a budget of $125 million, stars Michael Fassbender as a career criminal sent back to the Spanish Inquisition. It’s generated only moderate traction in the U.S. with $49.5 million after three weeks.

Sony’s “Passengers” came in third on the international chart with $32.7 million at 10,900 screens 63 markets, pushing the international total to nearly $105 million. The Jennifer Lawrence vehicle, co-financed by LStar Capital, Village Roadshow Pictures, and Wanda Pictures, has not yet opened in China or Japan. Germany saw a $5 million launch.

Illumination-Universal’s “Sing” finished fourth with $26.4 million in 62 markets to lift its foreign total to $143 million. The animated comedy opens in France on Jan. 25; U.K. on Jan. 27; Russia on March 2; and Japan on March 17.

Disney’s “Moana” rounded out the top five with $20 million in 39 territories. “Moana” has $224 million overseas, $1 million short of its domestic total.