The sci-fi spin-off has opened to the biggest preview total of the year but is still tracking far behind The Force Awakens

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story has opened to $29m in its first night on release in the US.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in-depth fan review: 'This is a movie made for fans' Read more

The spin-off, which is set before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope, has beaten Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Captain America: Civil War to score the year’s biggest preview number. But it falls behind the record-breaking $57m achieved by Star Wars: The Force Awakens which opened last year.

Rogue One is expected to score the second biggest December opening of all time with tracking around $135-$150m. The Force Awakens opened to $247.9m. Back in September, Disney CEO Bob Iger said that the company wasn’t expecting it to perform as well as JJ Abrams’ sequel.

Reviews for the film have been largely positive, with the Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw calling it an “exhilarating, good-natured and enjoyable adventure”. The Rotten Tomatoes score is 85% compared with 92% for The Force Awakens.

The film, directed by Godzilla’s Gareth Edwards, focuses on a mission to obtain the blueprint for the Death Star and is led by Oscar nominee Felicity Jones. After a year of ongoing discussions about equal pay within the industry, the Hollywood Reporter claimed on Friday that Jones was the highest-paid member of the cast.

As a standalone story, it’s already been confirmed that the film won’t be receiving a sequel. Next year sees the release of Star Wars: Episode VIII ahead of a Han Solo origins tale soon after.