‘Rogue One’ Heading for Dominant $160 Million at U.S. Holiday Box Office
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” is the king of the U.S. holiday box office with a projected $160 million plus over the six-day Dec. 21-26 period, according to Friday estimates.
Should the projections pan out, the eighth Star Wars movie will hit $350 million by the end of the holiday break, which would be its 11th day of release. Disney had announced Friday morning that “Rogue One” wound up its first week with $221.9 million domestically, including $15 million on Wednesday and $16.7 million on Thursday. Friday’s take was estimated at about $30 million.
Illumination-Universal’s animated comedy “Sing” is projected to come in a solid second with about $71 million over the six days, followed by Sony’s Jennifer Lawrence-Chris Pratt sci-fier “Passengers” at about $31 million and Fox’s videogame adaptation “Passengers” at $28 million.
James Franco’s romantic comedy “Why Him?,” which opened with $975,000 in Thursday night preview showings, is forecast to finish the four-day weekend with about $16 million. The number for the Fox release is comparable to the ensemble comedy “Office Christmas Party,” which generated $950,000 in Thursday night previews for Paramount on its way to an opening weekend of $16.9 million on Dec. 9-11.
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” playing at 4,175 locations, is already the 10th largest domestic grosser of the year after its first week, surpassing “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.” By Monday, it should be in the fifth spot, eclipsing “Doctor Strange” ($227 million), “Suicide Squad” ($325…