Rise of Skywalker dominates box office despite devastating reviews

Daisy Ridley.
(Image credit: Lucasfilm)

The newest chapter in the Star Wars franchise better hope it's still on the rise.

Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker opened Thursday night to a $40 million North American box office haul. It's the fifth-highest preview performance of all time, but below the $57 million Disney earned with The Force Awakens and $45 million for The Last Jedi, per The Hollywood Reporter.

In other less-than-ideal news, Rise of Skywalker also got particularly dismal reviews from critics across the board, culminating in a 57 percent rating from Rotten Tomatoes. Still, Disney anticipates Rise of Skywalker will end up with at least $160 million in its debut weekend, while tracking services are anticipating it'll end up closer to $175 to $200 million.

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If Star Wars can be thankful for anything, it's the fact that it's not Cats, which ended up with a terrible 19 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.