According to Forbes, the movie took $24.68 million on Friday; considerably lower than the $105 million it took the previous Friday – its first day on release in that territory.
So how big of a dip is that, and should LucasFilm be worried?
The short answer is no, of course not – The Last Jedi will still likely reach a global cumulative total of $1.5 billion, with around $700 million in the US alone. But it’s not all plain sailing.
That 77% drop is actually bigger than Rogue One’s diminished returns this time last year (it fell 67%, first Friday vs second Friday); although it could be argued that, as a standalone film, it benefited more from word of mouth and less from pre-release hype compared to The Last Jedi.
It’s normal for films of this size to take big drops in their second weeks, and it’s also normal for the first film in a trilogy to have a smaller dip than the two that follow it.
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With Star Wars specifically, The Phantom Menace fell 72% on its second Wednesday (compared to its opening day, which was also a Wednesday), while Attack of the Clones fell 78% and Revenge of the Sith a gargantuan 81% (both of those two films’ comparisons are on Thursdays, as that was the day of the week on which they opened).
Analysts have also pointed out that The Last Jedi faces a lot more family-friendly competition than The Force Awakens did, and it won’t help for casual moviegoers that it’s the middle film of a series – so anyone who didn’t see Episode 7 or simply didn’t like it is unlikely to turn up.
Elsewhere in the marketplace, Jumanji is outperforming expectations, and Coco, Ferdinand, Pitch Perfect 3, Wonder and The Greatest Showman are also on the menu – a much broader range for people to choose from than back when Episode 7 came out in 2015.
So while a 76% drop is slightly bigger than Rogue One and The Phantom Menace, it is – broadly speaking – to be expected. And the film was never at any point thought likely to make more than its predecessor.
Star Wars 8: The Last Jedi is out now.