Rogue One: A Star Wars Story rockets to top of box office with $155m
The space saga's seventh instalment has raked in an estimated $155m (拢124m) in its first weekend as fans flocked to cinemas.
Monday 19 December 2016 15:55, UK
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story聽has scored the second-best December opening in history聽and one of the top debuts in history with $155m (拢124m)聽in estimated ticket sales over the weekend.
The latest instalment of the intergalactic adventure opened at number one in all markets globally, though it has yet to open in China and Korea.
"We're in uncharted territory for December," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for box office tracker comScore.
"It's going to be really hard for any movie to catch up to this movie... This is only the second time a movie has opened this big in December."
The record-setter was Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the space saga's seventh instalment, which debuted to $247.9m (£199m) in the US and Canada last December.
Like The Force Awakens did in 2015, Rogue One could top the box office for the rest of the year, Mr Dergarabedian said.
Set before the events of the original 1977 Star Wars, it stars Felicity Jones and Diego Luna as leaders of a rebel faction that steals plans for its imperial enemy's master weapon, the Death Star.
Rogue One knocked the number one movie for the past three weeks, Disney's Moana, to a distant second with $11.6m (£9.2), followed by Office Christmas Party with $8.4m (£6.3m).