'Rogue One' Becomes 2016's Highest-Grossing Film in the U.S.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story has displaced Finding Dory as the highest-grossing film released in 2016 in the U.S.

The Star Wars standalone film added $13.3 million to its box office run Friday through Sunday, and is set to surpass the $500 million mark by Monday, Box Office Mojo reported.

Its current haul stands at $498.8 million at U.S. multiplexes in just five weeks.

Disney Pixar's animated Finding Dory, released last June, ended its theatrical run with $486 million in the U.S.

Either way, it's good news for Disney, which boasts four of the five highest-grossing movies of 2016 at the U.S. box office.

Behind Rogue One and Dory is Captain America: Civil War, produced by Disney's Marvel Studios, which took $408 million in 2016.

Related: 'Game of Thrones' and 'Deadpool' Topped the List of 2016's Most-Pirated Shows and Films

Disney's live action adaptation of The Jungle Book was the fifth most popular film with a total of $364 million. (It ranked just slightly behind Universal's animated hit The Secret Life of Pets, which grossed $368 million.)

Globally, Civil War outstripped both Dory and Rogue One with $1.15 billion. Rogue One is still playing worldwide, however, and could yet overtake the Marvel comic book movie by the end of its theatrical run. Its current total is $980 million.

Worth noting is that Rogue One is not performing as well in China as Disney and Lucasfilm's previous Star Wars release, The Force Awakens, released in December 2015. That is despite featuring two Chinese actors—Ip Man's Donnie Yen and Jiang Wen—and holding a premiere in Beijing to promote its homegrown stars.

Variety reported that in two weeks of release Rogue One has accumulated $52.7 million. The Force Awakens earned $53.2 million in its opening weekend and grossed $124 million in total in China.

Part of the reason Star Wars hasn't been as formidable at the Chinese box office, one analyst told Hollywood trade publication TheWrap, is because the original trilogy released in the 1970s and '80s was not officially released in the market, so not as many cinemagoers are as familiar with George Lucas' sweeping sci-fi saga. (The Star Wars prequel films released between 1999 and 2005 were, however, shown in China.)

"It's polarizing Chinese audiences. Those who grew up with the prequel trilogy or maybe caught the original trilogy somehow are giving the film some face, but the newer generation of moviegoers—those that really help a film break out at the box office—just don't care about these stories," Jonathan Papish of China Film Insider said.

Uncommon Knowledge

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

About the writer



To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.

Newsweek cover
  • Newsweek magazine delivered to your door
  • Newsweek Voices: Diverse audio opinions
  • Enjoy ad-free browsing on Newsweek.com
  • Comment on articles
  • Newsweek app updates on-the-go
Newsweek cover
  • Newsweek Voices: Diverse audio opinions
  • Enjoy ad-free browsing on Newsweek.com
  • Comment on articles
  • Newsweek app updates on-the-go