This weekend's new releases could have made for one of the biggest box-office totals in weeks, but the films that would've led it there aren't being received well. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker earned $176 million in U.S. theaters and $374 million globally, according to Variety.
While these totals are monstrous, The Rise of Skywalker's earnings crumble compared to its two predecessors. Domestically, 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens earned $248 million opening weekend and 2017’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi received $220 million.
Critics cite a lack of imagination as the reason for The Rise of Skywalker's poor reviews. "It doesn't do anything new or even terribly distinctive, but maybe it didn't have to. It just had to be good enough to stick the landing, and it does that," writes Bob Mondello for NPR.
The highly discussed Cats debuted this weekend as well. For a movie that cost $100 million to make, the $6.5 million it earned from the box office this weekend is almost as dismal as the film's reviews. It has a 19% in Rotten Tomatoes with John Anderson of the Wall Street Journal describing it by saying, "Artistically, it's a hairball. There's no story to speak of, Mr. Webber's music is immediately forgettable and, like a cat standing at an open door, it takes forever to get where it's going."
Check out the full breakdown of releases on Variety.
