Star Wars is quickly becoming as synonymous with December as Santa Claus and Christmas carols.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the first standalone film in the series, took the box office by storm last weekend, making its debut with $155 million — the second-biggest December opening ever. No. 1 on that list? Last year’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which started with a cool $248 million and ended up the all-time domestic champ with $937 million.

With Star Wars: Episode VIII (in theaters Dec. 15, 2017) looming next holiday season, the future of the sci-fi saga looks as bright as a laser blast from the Death Star.

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“The universe is unlimited for Star Wars,” says comScore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian. “The intensity with which fans love this franchise is second to none. There’s nothing quite like it.”

Rogue One’s success so far bodes well for where the standalones will go next, says Erik Davis, managing editor for Fandango.com and Movies.com. Its tale of Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) and her Rebel group’s mission to steal the Empire’s secret Death Star plans takes place before the original 1977 Star Wars, as does the upcoming young Han Solo movie (May 25, 2018) starring Alden Ehrenreich.

Davis sees the potential for a new prequel series if the third standalone film follows suit "in that same era." (The "anthology" film is slated for 2020, though no other details have been announced.)

Going forward, the perfect standalone movie "will accomplish what Rogue One does: widen the universe, expand our knowledge of previous Star Wars films we love, while also telling a brand new story with characters we haven’t seen before,” says Davis.

Meanwhile, the main players of The Force Awakens — including Rey (Daisy Ridley), Finn (John Boyega) and Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) — have their stories continue in writer/director Rian Johnson’s as-yet-untitled Episode VIII next year and then Episode IX, directed by Colin Trevorrow (Jurassic World) and set for May 23, 2019. cq, a Thursday; guess they've decided to embrace that as the "real" opening date

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As that trilogy ends, Uproxx senior entertainment writer Mike Ryan figures the high-profile episodes will continue: “Disney didn't spend $4 billion on Lucasfilm so they could just concentrate on standalone movies."

Disney could always go the Marvel route and release offshoots that tie into its bigger films — say, a film centered on Poe and fellow X-wing pilots — though Ryan isn’t sure there are enough known Star Wars characters to go around.

“When Marvel takes a risk on Doctor Strange or Guardians of the Galaxy, those are already established brands to a core audience of comic-book readers,” Ryan says. “No one knew who Jyn or Cassian were (before Rogue One) — the hook was ‘stealing the Death Star plans.’ ”

Davis agrees, saying more than one film a year could dilute the franchise. “They turn their movies into events. It’s starting to feel like a new holiday when a Star Wars movie comes out. That’s something they need to hold onto for the brand to keep being successful.”

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Adds Ryan: “Star Wars has always been delivered in small doses. That's changing, but the market in 2016 can handle one Star Wars movie a year, plus an animated series. If the average person gets bored with it all, that's a problem.”