#Rogue One Turned Two Lines Of Star Wars Text Into A Billion-Dollar Hit

Despite the troubles during production, reshoots, and air of uncertainty, “Rogue One” debuted in theaters in the U.S. on December 16, 2016. To aid matters, it was met with generally solid reviews, currently boasting an 84% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Also benefited by the hype that had hardly settled down from “The Force Awakens,” the movie opened to an absolutely excellent $155 million. Only the sequel trilogy entries have had better opening weekends in the “Star Wars” franchise, with “The Force Awakens” leading the pack at $247 million.

It needs to be emphasized that this movie was not an easy sell to anyone outside of hardcore “Star Wars” fandom. Thus, it opening to nearly $100 million less than Episode VII should never be looked at as a misfire. This was an absolute win. While it did suffer a 58.7% drop in its second weekend, taking in $64 million, it performed well both in North America and abroad during its theatrical run, which lasted a total of 20 weeks domestically.

In the end, the tale of a band of Rebels who stole the Death Star plans made $532.1 million domestically, to go along with $523.8 million internationally. Yes, a movie that ultimately spawned from just two lines of text generated $1.05 billion at the box office. “Star Wars” connection or not, that’s pretty damn impressive. While tiny corners of a galaxy far, far away have inspired countless storytelling over the years, this is easily the most prominent example of taking something small in this universe and making a big deal out of it, because it is one of the only fandoms in existence that can sustain such grand gestures, commercially speaking.