Fans rejecting Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker; latest movie disappoints at box-office?

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is the culmination of the epic Skywalker saga, however, it looks like the latest installment in the Star Wars franchise isn't receiving the love it expected. Early reviews for the film are divided, with even the critics bashing the predictable plot of the movie.

After the debacle of Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi, it seems like director J.J Abrams overcompensated with his course correcting. And it looks like the box office numbers are reflecting fan sentiment.

The opening night box office numbers for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker are in.

Reportedly, the Disney film earned $40 million in Thursday night preview screenings. This is considered super strong — the fifth-biggest preview night in box office history, and the film is on its way to at least $200 million for the weekend.

But that haul is below the last two Skywalker Saga films. By comparison, 2015's The Force Awakens had $57 million for its preview night and 2017's The Last Jedi had $45 million, according to Comscore.

Star Wars has slowly been losing its sheen with every subsequent entry in the franchise, after the bad taste The Last Jedi left in the mouth of fans, Solo: A Star Wars story was largely ignored by fans and as a result bombed at the box office. The franchise is recovering in other forms of media with the recent success of the videogame Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and the phenomenal success being enjoyed by The Mandalorian and baby Yoda.

However, on the big screen, the Star Wars franchise still seems to be struggling. Here are the previous top five openers via Comscore:

1) Avengers: Endgame – $60M Thurs / $357M three-day
2) The Force Awakens – $57M / $248M
3) The Last Jedi – $45M / $220M
4) Harry Potter 7, Part 2 – $44M / $169M
5) The Rise of Skywalker – $40M / TBD

Internationally, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is open in 46 markets. The first two days have seen it earn a strong $59 million to date.