While Leftist media continue to tout that Star Wars: The Last Jedi is a revelation, an “intelligent” film, and a new direction for the fantasy sci-fi series, the box office numbers are telling a vastly different story.
According to Forbes, Star Wars: The Last Jedi‘s second week box office drop-off is the largest in film history. The movie lost a massive $151 million between the first week and the second during its theatrical run, making $219 million during its first week out, but then dropping down to only $68 million during the second week, seeing a near 69% drop-off.
The Forbes article points out that this is an even larger drop-off compared to the first-to-second week box office of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which saw a decline of $98.7 million over the second of the second week at theaters.
Scott Mendelson from Forbes attempts to play it off, saying that it will likely still top out over the holiday at a domestic gross of $465 million, give or take, and attempts to dismiss why the drop-off could be as large as it is. There’s no doubt that the critics and moviegoers are not seeing eye to eye on Star Wars: The Last Jedi at all.
So far, critics and actual movie aficionados are having the complete opposite effect of Netflix’s Bright, which was castigated without quarter by the palatial movie critic echelon, but was dearly loved by moviegoers.
Mendelson, however, attempts to deflect back to gendered film revenue, ending his piece by writing…
“[…] the top-three North American hits of the year will be Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($400m+), Wonder Woman ($413m) and Beauty and the Beast. Yes, all three of the year’s biggest movies will be female-led blockbuster fantasy movies. But, please remind us again how female-driven blockbusters are box office poison.”
Well anything Star Wars is going to make money, so it doesn’t really count. And Wonder Woman was DC’s only good movie this year, so a lot of fanboys had to support it. His only viable argument is Beauty and the Beast, but once again it’s a Disney-backed vehicle. He would have had a much stronger argument if Atomic Blonde, Valerian or Ghost in the Shell had topped out the charts… but they didn’t.
Anyway, according to Cinema Blend, Star Wars: The Last Jedi managed to double what its nearest competitor did during its opening weekend.
1. | Star Wars: The Last Jedi | $68,486,000 | Total: $365,088,356 |
LW: 1
THTRS: 4,232
|
2. | Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle* | $34,000,000 | Total: $50,605,967 |
LW: N
THTRS: 3,765
|
3. | Pitch Perfect 3* | $20,451,000 | Total: $20,451,000 |
LW: N
THTRS: 3,447
|
4. | The Greatest Showman* | $8,600,000 | Total: $13,198,731 |
LW: N
THTRS: 3,006
|
5. | Ferdinand | $7,050,000 | Total: $26,532,884 |
LW: 2
THTRS: 3,630
|
6. | Coco | $5,208,000 | Total: $161,327,128 |
LW: 3
THTRS: 2,111
|
7. | Downsizing* | $4,600,000 | Total: $4,600,000 |
LW: N
THTRS: 2,668
|
8. | Darkest Hour | $4,105,000 | Total: $6,957,077 |
LW: 16
THTRS: 806
|
9. | Father Figures* | $3,200,000 | Total: $3,200,000 |
LW: N
THTRS: 2,902
|
10. | The Shape of Water | $3,050,000 | Total: $7,615,665 |
LW: 12
THTRS: 726
|
However, the drop-off has been so huge for The Last Jedi that it’s very possible that the film could be matched or overtaken by its third week out.
Fans are quickly attempting to spread the word not to support Star Wars: The Last Jedi, but they’ll have to break through the cloud of shills, Disney’s overbearing marketing machine, and lots of fanboys in order to reach the masses. We’ll see if all the negative reviews will affect the movie’s domestic box office performance by the end of its third weekend in theaters.