Despite a rather negative reception by Star Wars fans, Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker has surpassed $1 Billion worldwide. This is the 7th Disney movie in 2019 to break the One Billion dollar marker; however, Rise of Skywalker is trailing its predecessors significantly. For many Star Wars fans, Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker was a disappointment. The story featured a convoluted plot with an ending that left many going meh at best. Without giving away any spoilers, Rise of Skywalker featured multiple plot wholes that had Star Wars fans scouring for answers. Luckily the Star Wars Visual Dictionary was able to help.
In under a month, Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker has netted Disney $1 Billion Worldwide; yet, in comparison to two predecessors, it is doing the worst. With a domestic box office of $481.3 million and $519.7 million internationally, Rise of Skywalker is still trailing Star Wars: The Last Jedi‘s 1.33 Billion box office. The lower sales numbers are potentially due to a weak domestic opening weekend, netting Disney only $176 million. This is shocking especially since Disney’s live-action The Lion King opened with a $191.7 million opening.
As previously stated, Rise of Skywalker is the seventh Disney film to break the $1 billion threshold. The six other titles to surpass $1billion are Captain Marvel, Aladdin, The Lion King, Avengers: Endgame, Frozen II and Toy Story 4. Endgame holds the record with $2.798 billion earned while in theatres. According to CNBC, Disney earned $11.1 billion in global movie ticket sales in 2019 without including Rise of Skywalker.
Personal Opinion
Personally, I can see why Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker has garnished the success it has but is staggering behind The Last Jedi & The Force Awakens. The movie’s plot felt forced and had more holes in it than swiss cheese. The visuals of the movie were exceptional but overpowered that narrative at times. The audience was required to know Star Wars side lore to understand who certain characters were and why certain things were happening. Overall, Episode 9 felt too forced with too much detail crammed into two hours and twenty-two minutes.
Sources: CNBC & Screen Rant