The Rise of Skywalker J.J. Abrams

Box office

The Rise of Skywalker grossed $515.2 million in the U.S. and Canada, and $561.8 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $1.077 billion,[3] making it the seventh highest-grossing film of 2019.[158] Deadline Hollywood calculated the net profit of the film to be $300 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues.[7]

Pre-sale tickets went on sale on October 21, 2019, and the film sold more tickets in their first hour of availability on Atom Tickets than the previous record-holder for ticket sales, Avengers: Endgame (2019). It became Atom Tickets' second-best first-day seller of all time behind Endgame, selling more than twice the number of tickets as The Last Jedi sold in that same timeframe, while Fandango reported it outsold all previous Star Wars films.[159][160] Box office tracking had The Rise of Skywalker grossing around $205 million in its opening weekend, though some firms predicted a debut closer to $175 million.[161] The film made $89.6 million on its first day, including $40 million from Thursday night previews, the sixth-highest opening day of all time.[162][163] It went on to debut to $177.4 million, which was the third-highest opening ever for a December release and the 12th-best of all time, and it was also noted that Saturday (which saw a 47% drop from Friday's gross) was the busiest shopping day of the year, likely affecting ticket sales.[164][165][166] However, Deadline Hollywood did write that "we can't ignore the less than platinum B+" audience exit scores, which could affect the film's legs (box office longevity) moving forward.[164] The film made $32 million on Christmas Day, the second-best total ever for the holiday after The Force Awakens' $49.3 million in 2015.[167] It went on to have a five-day total of $138.8 million, including $76 million for the weekend.[168] In its third weekend the film made $34.5 million, remaining in first,[169][170] before being dethroned in its fourth weekend by newcomer 1917 (2019).[171] On January 14, 2020, the film crossed the $1 billion mark at the box office, becoming Disney's seventh film of 2019 to do so.[172] At the end of its box office run, it was third highest-grossing film of 2019 in this region behind Avengers: Endgame and The Lion King.[173]

Worldwide the film was projected to gross around $450 million in its opening weekend, including $250 million from 52 international territories.[174] It made $59.1 million from its first day of international release in 46 countries. The biggest markets were the United Kingdom ($8.3 million), Germany ($7.2 million), France ($5.3 million), and Australia ($4.3 million).[175] In China, the film made $1.6 million (RMB11.6 million) through its first day.[176] It went on to open to $198 million from overseas countries and $373.5 million worldwide, coming in below projections and 47% lower than The Last Jedi's total. Its biggest opening totals remained the UK ($26.8 million), Germany ($21.8 million), France ($15.2 million), Japan ($14.6 million), Australia ($12.6 million), and China ($12.1 million).[175]

Critical response

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 51% with an average score of 6.1/10, based on 527 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "The Rise of Skywalker suffers from a frustrating lack of imagination, but concludes this beloved saga with fan-focused devotion."[177] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 53 out of 100 based on 61 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[178]

Richard Roeper, reviewing for the Chicago Sun-Times, gave the film three stars out of four, writing that it "rarely comes close to touching greatness, but it's a solid, visually dazzling and warmhearted victory [for] quality filmmaking."[179] The A.V. Club's A. A. Dowd gave the film a C+, stating that the film "is so freighted with obligation that it almost groans under the weight, flashing a weak smile as it vaguely approximates the appearance of a zippy good time."[180] Michael Phillips for Chicago Tribune wrote that the film "does the job. It wraps up the trio of trilogies begun in 1977 in a confident, soothingly predictable way, doing all that is cinematically possible to avoid [upsetting the] tradition-minded quadrants of the Star Wars fan base."[181]

Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle described the film as "a disappointment" and wrote, "For all the movie's faults, it's likely that most people will consider The Rise of Skywalker and accept the trade: Sit through a so-so 110 minutes to get to a strong half hour."[182] Owen Gleiberman of Variety called the film "the most elegant, emotionally rounded, and gratifying Star Wars adventure since the glory days of Star Wars (1977) and The Empire Strikes Back (1980) ... but given the last eight films, the bar isn't that high."[183] The BBC's Nicholas Barber praised the film's acting and wrote, "The Rise of Skywalker has been lovingly crafted by a host of talented people, and yet the best they can do is pay tribute to everything [George Lucas] did several decades ago."[184]

Scott Mendelson for Forbes described the film as "possibly worse" compared to the previous Skywalker saga films while ending the main saga and "denying this new trilogy its artistic reason for existence". He also criticized the film for retconning The Last Jedi and for its conventional plot twists, writing that the film is full of "patronizing reversals in the name of mollifying the fans who merely want to be reminded of the first three movies."[185] Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times described the film as "a Last Jedi corrective", which is "the more accurate way to describe it" and represents "an epic failure of nerve". He further wrote it "feels more like a retreat, a return to a zone of emotional and thematic safety from a filmmaker with a gift for packaging nostalgia as subversion."[186] Writing for The New Yorker, Richard Brody wrote that the film's faults "are those of the franchise over all", as the film's director "J. J. Abrams is mainly a distiller and a magnifier and brings virtually no originality to it". Brody said that it would have been better if a "boldly imaginative vulgarian such as Michael Bay" had instead created a "derisive wreckage" of Star Wars.[187] Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com criticized the film, giving it 2.5/5 stars, faulting it for "Terrible dialogue, disinterested performances, and an unconvincing, phony CGI aesthetic", and criticizing it for its "misdirection" and calling it "A movie that so desperately wants to please a fractured fanbase that it doesn't bother with an identity of its own", though he praised it for its "[r]emarkable set pieces".[188]

Whereas Asian-American actress Kelly Marie Tran had around ten minutes of screen time in The Last Jedi, she appears for about a minute in The Rise of Skywalker. The reduced role was interpreted by some critics as a concession to fans who disliked her character;[189] Tran had been a target of racist, fatphobic and misogynistic online harassment following the release of The Last Jedi. Multiple cast members involved on the previous film defended her, such as Boyega.[190] Critics said she was "sidelined" into a minor character, and commented on how she was written out "without any explanation" and her minor role was considered by one critic to be "one of the film's biggest disappointments".[191][192] With regard to the criticism towards the character's reduced screen-time, screenwriter Chris Terrio said it was due to the difficulty of including the deceased Carrie Fisher archive footage in scenes planned to feature both characters.[193]

Audience response

Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, the lowest among the live-action films in the franchise.[164][194] On PostTrak, audiences gave the film an average of four stars out of five, with 70% of respondents rating it as a "definite recommend".[164][195] Of the demographics polled by PostTrak, parents gave it 5 stars and children under 12 years old gave it 4.5 stars, with 80% of males and 84% of females rating it positively. RelishMix, which tracks social media posts and online presence, "noticed a divided reaction to Skywalker online, though it leaned slightly positive".[164]

Months prior to the film's trailer release, the "Want to See" percentage was review bombed on Rotten Tomatoes, dropping the score as low as 5% within a day.[196] Negative comments reflected a "lingering negativity" toward The Last Jedi according to Screen Rant.[196] After a similar bombing campaign occurred with the 2019 film Captain Marvel, Rotten Tomatoes temporarily changed the "Want to See" feature to a number and eventually removed the feature altogether.[196]

Accolades