Star Wars: The Last Jedi Comes Closer To Hitting The $1 Billion Mark At The Box Office

star wars episode viii the last jedi kylo ren
Kylo Ren in Star Wars: The Last Jedi

While the reaction to Disney-Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi has been polarizing, the film still has numerous fans around the world to help the film pass the $1 billion mark at the box office. The Last Jedi is also on its way to surpass Beauty and the Beast as the top domestic grosser for 2017.

Disney’s decision to be more inclusive in the new Star Wars films caused angry fan reactions when Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released. However, SWTFA went on to make more than $2 billion at the worldwide box office. The female-centric and POC-inclusive Rogue One spin-off also made more than a billion dollars against online hate.

But angry fanboys will continue being angry fanboys. They just can’t bring themselves to be happy about the franchise’s success as the new Star Wars films focus on changing things for a new generation, something that The Last Jedi did a lot of. Even the low audience score on Rotten Tomatoes isn’t slowing down The Last Jedi at the box office. You tried ‘fanboys’ you all tried but the Force will always be strong with the Rebellion!

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is currently on track to hit the $1 billion mark at the global box office before New Year’s Eve. As of writing this, the film’s global gross stands at $934.2 million. It’s also going to surpass Disney’s Beauty and the Beast to become the highest grossing film of 2017 at the domestic box office. Industry estimates predict The Last Jedi to gross more than Rogue One at the worldwide box office.

I’m sure Kathleen Kennedy and Disney are satisfied with the numbers. Now, I’m not saying that The Last Jedi is a perfect movie, but it isn’t the flop angry online reactions are trying to make the world think it is. Also, you can’t say that The Last Jedi is a flop just because it won’t be able to reach The Force Awakens numbers, a film that was a new entry in the Star Wars franchise after years of waiting and thus excited everyone.

Some of the fan reactions I’ve gone through seem to revolve around Rey being a Mary Sue, too many POCs, too many women in authoritative roles, and demeaning men to make the women shine. There’s also a lot of talk about how the latest Star Wars film ruined the Jedi lore.

Well, the Jedi have always been a mess and as Polygon states ‘the Jedi suck.’ So, f#ck your tree!

As for the role of women in The Last Jedi, the film does an amazing job of showing the audience about the dire consequences that accompany toxic masculinity and looking up to stereotypical male heroes. I just hope some people were able to learn from seeing such a narrative on the big screen.

And while there are POCs in The Last Jedi, I do think the film can do a bit better with fleshing such characters out. The percentage of the African-American community that came to see the latest Star Wars film was very low. I’ve also read comments about Finn falling into the stereotype of being a black janitor who’s being used as comedic relief.

What are your thoughts about Star Wars: The Last Jedi and its box office numbers? Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.


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