Via | NY Times
LOS ANGELES — The eighth chapter in the “Star Wars” movie series, “The Last Jedi,” made the jump to box office hyperspace over the weekend, selling $450 million in tickets worldwide and affirming Disney’s strategy for rebooting the 40-year-old franchise for a new generation of fans.
Benefiting from stellar reviews and wall-to-wall marketing, “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” collected an estimated $220 million in North America theaters — some 4,232, some of which offered screenings around the clock. The domestic opening total was the second-highest on record, even after adjusting for inflation, falling just 11 percent short of the $248 million in initial ticket sales for “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” in 2015.
“Star Wars” has long been in a league of its own, and “The Last Jedi,” directed by the relative newcomer Rian Johnson, was always expected to arrive as a blockbuster. The question was how big of one.