Rey and Kylo Ren face off in "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker."

"Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" gained momentum at the box office this week, hauling in $32 million in the U.S. on Christmas Day, the second-highest single-day gross on that holiday in box-office history.

Only "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" had a better Christmas showing, garnering $49.3 million in 2015.

"The Last Jedi" tallied $27.4 million and "Rogue One" took in $25.8 million on their respective Christmases in 2017 and 2016, according to data from Comscore. Each film was also the highest grossing on Christmas Day during those years as well.

"The Rise of Skywalker" led a terrific single day for the industry, which generated some $80 million in total for the full day, Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore, said.

With this strong showing, "The Rise of Skywalker" has now surpassed $516 million at the global box office in its first eight days in theaters and is on its way to becoming Disney's seventh $1 billion movie of 2019.

While critics panned the film, giving it a 55% "Rotten" score on Rotten Tomatoes, "The Rise of Skywalker" has been well liked by audiences who have given it an 86% on the site.