‘Rise of Skywalker’ opens with $175.5 million; ‘Cats’ flops
Associated PressNEW YORK — The Force was a little less strong with “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.” J.J. Abrams’ Skywalker finale couldn’t match its recent predecessors on opening weekend, but it still amassed a $175.5 million debut that ranked as the third largest weekend of the year. “The Rise of Skywalker” came in with worse reviews than any “Star Wars” movie except for 1999’s “The Phantom Menace,” which famously heralded the debut of Jar Jar Binks. While its stewardship of “Star Wars” has drawn enormous box-office proceeds, “The Rise of Skywalker” had its work cut out in trailing both the much-debated “Last of the Jedi” and the 2018 dud “Solo: A Star Wars Story.” In November, Disney chief executive Bob Iger told investors that “Star Wars” will go “into a hiatus” after “Rise of Skywalker.” The next “Star Wars” movie, which is to be set outside the Skywalker saga, isn’t scheduled for release until 2022. “It’s time to devote a lot of attention to the streaming environment for ‘Star Wars’ and then come back with a vengeance,” said Dergarabedian.” There’s a lot of lessons to be learned and certainly from this latest installment.” “Rise of Skywalker” helped improve the shortfall at the box office compared to last year, but ticket sales are still running 4.6% behind 2018, according to Comscore.