The Weekend Report

Rogue One was the kind of rebel the movie industry adores as it hurtled into cinemas with an estimated $155.4 million, accounting for about 70% of all weekend movie sales. That didn’t leave much for the competition including the session’s other wide freshman opener, Collateral Beauty, which ranked fourth with a grim $6.9 million.

Exclusive launches were spearheaded by the four-screen, $129,000 box office of Denzel Washington’s adaptation of August Wilson’s Fences. Also good was the three-screen debut of Chile’s Neruda with $25,800. The frame also saw effective expansions of awards contenders La La Land and Manchester by the Sea.

Among international day-and-dates, there was bad news for Telugu comedy Nanna Nenu Naa Boyfriends that bowed to $10,300 at 57 venues, while Chinese The Wasted Times garnered $87,800. In Québec, political comedy Votez Bougon got a solid endorsement of $311,000.

Revenues for the frame climbed to about $212 million and a hopeful holiday boost of 154% from the prior weekend. It was still 33% behind 2015 levels when Star Wars: The Force Awakens opened to $247.9 million with debuting Sisters trailing with $13.9 million.

Rogue One dominated discussion about the potential of a Star Wars-related spin-off. It turned out to be thumbs up both critically and commercially, debuting to roughly 63% of the business of the official reboot. The studio low-balled expectations but tracking suggested high end expectations of $150 million.

Studio exit polls identified the audience as 59% male with 62% aged 25 and older. Though it has obvious appeal for older audiences that discovered the franchise 39.5 years ago, 47% of the crowd fell into the 17-34 year old corridor. Roughly 38% of viewers opted for the 3D option with IMAX engagements accounting for 12% of the total.

Internationally, Rogue One opened in all major markets except China and South Korea to an estimated $135 million. The UK was the top territory with $21 million with Germany grossing $12.5 million.

The anticipation for Collateral Beauty was heated by strong previews. However, the Rogue One tsunami pared expectations down to low teen tracking and even that proved to be significantly optimistic. The opening audience broke down as 59% female with 74% aged 25 and older. International results were comparably downbeat with a $4.6 million tally from 16 territories. Mexico and Russia accounted for about two-thirds of the total with respective bows of $1.6 million and $1.4 million.

La La Land demos were 52% female with 53% of viewers aged 30-years and older.

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