'Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker' Drops Nearly 60% In Its Second Weekend, Still Slightly Trailing 'The Last Jedi'

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker had no problem dominating the box office for a second weekend in a row. The end of the Skywalker saga made over two times as much as Jumanji: The Next Level did in second place. However, it's not all good news for The Rise of Skywalker, because the movie saw a roughly 59% drop from opening weekend, which is larger than analysts were expecting for the blockbuster sequel. What does that mean for the future of the Rise of Skywalker box office run?Box Office Mojo has The Rise of Skywalker box office adding another $72 million to the domestic total, bringing the gross up to $361 million in 10 days. The second weekend drop of around 59% isn't quite as big as the 67.5% drop that The Last Jedi saw back in 2017. But at this same point in its theatrical run, The Last Jedi had grossed $368.1 million, putting Rise of Skywalker behind by only $6.3 million.Rise of Skywalker isn't far behind the performance of The Last Jedi, and could very well end up passing it soon. Even so, right now industry projections (via Deadline) have the movie ending its theatrical run around the same area that The Last Jedi finished, which was just over $620 million domestically. That might not be what Lucasfilm and Disney were hoping for, but with such a divisive final chapter echoing the same critical and audience split that The Last Jedi brought about, we're not surprised.

When you compare The Rise of Skywalker to The Force Awakens, it's unfortunately not even close. The movie that ushered in a new era of Star Wars had reached $540 million after 10 days of release. It also only dropped 40% in its second weekend. But this shouldn't be considered the norm since Star Wars had been out of the box office spotlight for 10 years, and this sequel trilogy promised the return of legacy characters that hadn't graced the big screen screen since 1983, so the excitement and anticipation was much higher.

However, it should come as no surprise that The Rise of Skywalker outperformed both Rogue One and Solo: A Star Wars Story. Rogue One dropped 58.7% in its second weekend, raking in $64 million, which isn't too far behind The Last Jedi or The Rise of Skywalker. Meanwhile, Solo saw a big dip of 65%, dropping to $29 million from its opening weekend of $84 million.For all the fans praising The Rise of Skywalker for "course-correcting" after the events of The Last Jedi, the box office doesn't show that there's much more audience interest in the Skywalker saga finale. Is that because The Last Jedi left a bad taste in the mouth of some fans? Or is it because reactions to The Rise of Skywalker have been rather divisive among both critics and fans, even though the divisiveness isn't quite as pronounced among fans?If you want to see how the rest of the weekend shook out, which included Little Women and Spies in Disguise exceeding expectations, and Uncut Gems making an impressive showing as it expanded to more screens following a limited release, check out the full report over at Box Office Mojo.