Rogue One: A Star Wars Story has become the twenty-eighth motion picture to gross more than $1 billion worldwide. The first standalone Star Wars story since Ewoks: The Battle for Endor limped its way to TV screens in 1985 has joined the ranks of The Avengers, Avatar, The Dark Knight and (inexplicably) Minions as one of the biggest films of all time.
There was a time when a movie making this crazy amount of money was a rarity, as a matter of fact, 2017 marks the twentieth anniversary of the $1 billion box office and we have James Cameron’s Titanic to thank for that.
What’s that you say, BoxOfficeMojo.com has Jurassic Park as the 21st biggest movie of all time with a tally of just over $1 billion and it was released in 1993. Well, it doesn’t count, Jurassic Park only crossed the $1 billion mark after a 3D re-release a few years ago. So there.
The anthology movies in the revived Star Wars universe are unlikely to end up with similar box office hauls as the main ongoing franchise. There was a deafening amount of buzz surrounding The Force Awakens and while Rogue One has been no slouch in the marketing department, nostalgia played a leading role in the $2 billion success of J.J Abrams’ crowdpleaser.
At the time of writing, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story has grossed $983 million worldwide, but by the time you read this, it will be officially over the once elite milestone. The top ten biggest movies of 2016 were dominated by Disney, the record-setting year for the Mouse House saw them claim the top five spots and were the only studio to produce a $1 billion hit. In case you wondered Captain America: Civil War, Finding Dory, and Zootopia were the top three followed by Rogue One and The Jungle Book.
Rogue One is still showing in cinemas nationwide.