‘Jedi’ blows up the box office with near-record $220 million

NEW YORK – Star Wars: The Last Jedi will happily settle for second.

Rian Johnson’s second installment in the third Star Wars trilogy rocketed to a debut of $220 million at the North American box office, according to studio estimates Sunday. That gives The Last Jedi the second-best opening ever, slotting in behind only its predecessor, The Force Awakens.

The blockbuster became just the fourth film to open with more than

$200 million domestically. Aside from The Force Awakens ($248.8 million), the others are The Avengers ($207.4 million) and Jurassic World ($208.8 million).

The Last Jedi is off to a similar start overseas, with $230 million in international ticket sales, Disney says, for a three-day global haul of $450 million.

The weekend’s only other new wide release, the animated Ferdinand, about a gentle bull voiced by John Cena, was essentially stampeded, grossing $13.3 million and finishing second.

The rest of the top five: Pixar’s Day of the Dead movie Coco (No. 3, $10 million); Wonder (No. 4, $5.4 million), starring Julia Roberts and Jacob Tremblay; and DC Films’ superhero teamup Justice League (No. 5, $4.2 million).

The Last Jedi is more irreverent than previous chapters, and has drawn plaudits for its diverse cast.

Critics gave Johnson’s film a 93% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences endorsed it as well, giving it an A grade on CinemaScore, though not all fans are on board. The Last Jedi has scored a dismal 56% rating from

95,000 Rotten Tomato users.

Yet the haul for The Last Jedi dwarfed most all releases in the two years since The Force Awakens. By comparison, it has in three days already bested the five-week gross of DC Films’ Justice League ($219.5 million).

“Seeing a movie like this in the movie theater, getting the collective goose bumps and having the OMGmoments, that’s something you cannot replicate at home on the small screen,” says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for comScore. “Rian Johnson has made a movie that showcases the movie theater experience in a truly brilliant way.”

The massive debut for The Last Jedi singlehandedly brightens what has been a disappointing year for Hollywood. The weekend was far and away the highest grossing of the year. Dergarabedian estimates the year will end about 2% down with a little more than

$11 billion in ticket sales.

Final numbers are expected Monday.