Star Wars: The Last Jedi surpasses US$1 billion in third week

Jan 02, 2018 06:00 am

Star Wars: The Last Jedi has passed the US$1 billion (S$1.34 billion) mark in worldwide revenues after just three weeks, a Disney spokesman confirmed on Sunday.

That helped provide a positive spin to what has been a year of ups and downs for Hollywood, while giving a clear boost to Disney, now the only studio to surpass US$5 billion globally for the last three years, according to Deadline.com.

Already the year's number one film in European theatres, The Last Jedi is expected to surpass another Disney film, Beauty And The Beast, which earned more than US$1.3 billion worldwide, as the year's top-earning film.

If the estimates are borne out, The Last Jedi will be the eighth highest-grossing domestic movie of all time, according to Variety.com. It opens in the enormous Chinese market on Friday.

Holiday viewership also provided a boost for second-placed Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle, which amassed US$67 million in North America. In third was Pitch Perfect 3 (US$22.7 million). - AFP