The Bible tells us the last will be first one day. Alas, the last are rarely first on earth these days … unless, of course, we’re talking about The Last Jedi.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi made like the Death Star and blasted the competition to smithereens en route to a truly cosmic $220 million opening weekend (estimated, of course). That’s the second biggest debut ever—trailing only The Last Jedi’s forebear, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which opened with a $247.9 million weekend in 2015.
It just goes to show you that there’s big, and then there’s Star Wars big. It took Justice League—no slouch at the box office itself—five weeks of midnight showings, matinee screenings and IMAX blowouts to earn $219.5 million. The Last Jedi blasted past Supes, Batman, Wonder Woman et al in just a little over three days. Or consider this: The other 34 movies now in theaters, according to Box Office Mojo, earned just $56 million combined this weekend—about a quarter of what The Last Jedi earned alone.
You know when I use italics so frequently in one paragraph, it’s kind of a big deal.
Obviously, moviegoers didn’t have a lot of extra cash on hand for any other movies out there, but they plunked down what little they had for a pair of family oriented animated flicks.
Ferdinand bulled out of the gates this week alongside The Last Jedi—the only film willing to tackle Disney’s space opera behemoth. But like its namesake character, Ferdinand entered the ring a bit meekly. The pacifist bovine finished second, collecting $13.3 million at the turnstyle.
Coco, Pixar’s three-time box office champ, slid to third with $10 million. That pushes its total North American haul to around $150.8 million. It has grossed nearly twice that much ($297.4 million) overseas, bringing its total haul to $448.2 million, give or take. Pretty lively for a flick about a bunch of dead people.
After five weeks, Wonder and Justice League are both still hanging around the top five, finishing fourth ($5.4 million) and fifth ($4.2 million), respectively.
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