Box Office: Star Wars has lowest opening weekend of trilogy

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker had the seventh-best opening weekend in Australian history

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has had a massive $17.96m opening weekend which is good for the seventh-best weekend in Australian box office history. But due to the fact that Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($27.25m) and Star Wars: The Last Jedi ($20.97m) were second and fourth all-time respectively it means that The Rise of Skywalker has had the lowest opening weekend amongst the new Star Wars trilogy. 

If it wasn’t for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 ($18.36m) from Warner Bros. spoiling the party, Disney would have the top six biggest opening weekends ever in Australia:

  1. Avengers Endgame $34.11m Disney
  2. Star Wars: The Force Awakens $27.25m Disney
  3. Avengers: Infinity War $21.23m Disney
  4. Star Wars: The Last Jedi $20.97m Disney
  5. The Lion King (2019) $20.53m Disney
  6. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 $18.36m Warner Bros.
  7. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker $17.96m Disney

Obviously it is early days but it is still possible for The Rise of Skywalker to beat the overall totals of the first two entries in the trilogy with targets of $94.03m by Star Wars: The Force Awakens and $58.09m by Star Wars: The Last Jedi, but it will need a lengthy run in theatres.

Only one film dropped out of the top five this week with Last Christmas being the film to give way for The Rise of Skywalker after making $10.33m over seven weeks.

Overall, the Australian box office saw a huge surge in takings of 157% after making $25.23m with over 70% coming from The Rise of Skywalker.

#1 Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker $17.96m

An easy first place, the film’s historic $17m+ opening weekend potentially being considered disappointing points to the massive success of the franchise and the incredible expectation that it holds.  Star Wars doesn’t do things in moderation with it being by far the most screened film in the country with 1,056 with by far the best highest average per screen with $17,010.

#2 Frozen 2 $2.80m

While Star Wars will be garnering all the attention this week, another Disney property that is continuing to chug along on its way to a massive total with another steady week is Frozen 2. After four weeks the film has made a total of $27.81m as it works towards the $41m needed to go past Toy Story 4 for the highest-grossing animated film of the year. This weekend it averaged $7,375 on 381 screens and with the holiday period just beginning it could have a few more weeks in the top five to come.

#3 Knives Out $795,718

The most popular whodunit of the year has now spent four weeks in the top five as it continues to bring in Australian moviegoers as its total now sits at $9.49m. This week it averaged $2,958 on 269 screens.

#4 The Addams Family $762,952

The latest rendition of the famous dark and quirky family has so far made $4.17m in Australia after three weeks and this weekend averaged $2,715 on 281 screens.

#5 Playing with Fire $689,034

The family hits keep coming at this time of the year and John Cena’s Playing with Fire fits that demographic to a T as it finds itself in the top five for two weeks in a row bringing its total to $2.24m after averaging $2,702 on 255 screens.

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