LOS ANGELES •The force is still strong with Star Wars as The Rise Of Skywalker opened to a massive box-office take of US$177.4 million (S$240 million) in North America, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations said on Monday.
The film scored the third-biggest December debut ever, according to Disney, behind only the two earlier chapters in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, The Force Awakens (2015) and The Last Jedi (2017).
Its opening was the third highest by a film this year, after Avengers: Endgame and The Lion King - both also from Disney - and the 12th biggest of all time.
The Rise Of Skywalker, directed by J.J. Abrams and starring Adam Driver, Mark Hamill, Daisy Ridley and Oscar Isaac, blew away the weekend's competition.
Its domestic take was nearly seven times that of the No. 2 movie, Sony's game-inspired Jumanji: The Next Level, which booked US$26.5 million for the period from Friday to Sunday. The actioncomedy stars Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Jack Black and Kevin Hart.
In third was another Disney product, Frozen II, at US$13 million. The animated musical film, now in its fifth weekend in cinemas, returns to the magical world of Queen Elsa (voiced by Idina Menzel) and her sister Anna (Kristen Bell).
Universal's film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats opened in fourth place, at US$6.6 million.
The movie from Tom Hooper (The King's Speech, 2010) boasts an all-star cast including Taylor Swift, Ian McKellen, Judi Dench, Jennifer Hudson, Idris Elba and James Corden.
But the musical has received stunningly bad reviews. The Guardian called it a "dreadful hairball of woe", while for the Wall Street Journal, it was "a confusing litter box of intentions".
In fifth spot was Lionsgate's droll murder mystery Knives Out, at US$6.5 million. Daniel Craig plays a southern American detective hired to unravel the bloody death of a wealthy patriarch.
Rounding out the top 10 films were Bombshell (US$5.1 million); Richard Jewell (US$2.6 million); Queen & Slim (US$1.8 million); Ford V Ferrari (US$1.8 million) and Black Christmas (US$1.8 million).
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
