Star Wars: The Last Jedi Passes Rogue One at Box Office

Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi has now passed Gareth Edwards’ Rogue One: A Star Wars Story at the box office. Anticipation for Johnson’s long-awaited sequel to J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens was understandably high. The film finally hit theaters in December 2017 after initially being delayed from its scheduled May 2017 release, which Lucasfilm did following Episode VII‘s ground-breaking success in December 2015, becoming the highest-grossing film of all-time domestically.

The Last Jedi earned virtually unanimous praise from critics prior to release, with some going as far as to compare the film to Irvin Kershner’s Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back , even though it arguably has more in common, thematically, with Richard Marquand’s Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi. Still, despite overwhelmingly positive reviews and high anticipation, the movie received a much more lukewarm welcoming from audiences, who are decidedly mixed on the film’s story and characters , as well as its daring choices. That didn’t inhibit The Last Jedi from hitting the billion-dollar mark and becoming 2017’s highest-grossing film before the year’s end. And now, it looks like it has passed yet another box office milestone.


Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi passed Gareth Edwards’ Rogue One at both the domestic and worldwide box office. As of Monday, January 1, 2018, The Last Jedi has earned an estimated $533 million domestically, whereas Rogue One earned $532.17 million when it released in December 2016. Globally, The Last Jedi has garnered $1,056,389,228, while Rogue One amassed a grand total of $1,056,057,273, a little over $200 million less than Episode VIII‘s current worldwide amount.

The Last Jedi has been in theaters for 17/18 days so far, depending on the market, and it has earned just over $533 million during that time. Comparatively, The Force Awakens earned $742 million during that same time frame when it released in December 2015. While that’s over $200 million more than Episode VIII‘s total so far, Episode VII‘s release was an event of a lifetime, one that Hollywood would be hard-pressed to replicate, so it’s unrealistic to expect Johnson’s installment to compete with those numbers.

At the moment, The Last Jedi is expected to net around $1.6 billion worldwide and end up in the top 5 highest-grossing films of all-time , passing at least Joss Whedon’s The Avengers and perhaps Colin Trevorrow’s Jurassic World as well. The film is releasing in China this coming weekend, which should help its international box office haul. But we’ll just have to wait and see where its box office total ends up.