'Rogue One' expected to crush the box office with over $300m this weekend despite mixed reviews and calls to boycott over anti-Trump message
- 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' is expected to earn over $300million at the global box office this weekend
- The film will start rolling out in foreign markets on Wednesday
- Some have started a movement threatening to boycott the film over what they claim is its anti-Trump message
- Reviews meanwhile are mixed, with some critics love the movie and others finding many problems with the new film
The latest entry in the Star Wars franchise is dividing film critics, but is expected to bring in more than $300million at the global box office this weekend despite a social media boycott campaign over its perceived anti-Trump slant.
Reviewers are also very divided over Disney's 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,' which arrives in theaters a year after the main cast of the original 1977 film reunited for 'The Force Awakens,' which went on to take more than $2 billion at the box office.
Box office analysts expect 'Rogue One,' which starts rollout on Wednesday in foreign markets, to do smaller business overall than 'The Force Awaken,' but to gross somewhere between $300-$350million in its opening weekend alone.
Odeon will be hosting 600 screenings of the film at midnight on Thursday alone across their 120 cinemas in the UK and Ireland.
Those box office predictions have been floating around for a few weeks now, and have not changed since a boycott campaign, #DumpStarWars, gained steam on Twitter.
The campaign emerged amidst claims that 'Rogue One' contains scenes that are anti-U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and portray the galactic Empire in 'Star Wars' as a white supremacist organization.
Fandango said it had sold 'hundreds of thousands of tickets' in the first few minutes after they went on sale on November 28, thought they will not release ticket sale totals.
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Making bank: 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' is expected to earn over $300million at the global box office this weekend
Big push: The film will start rolling out in foreign markets on Wednesday
No go: Some have started a movement threatening to boycott the film over what they claim is its anti-Trump message (above)
'Rogue One' stars Felicity Jones at the head of a brand new cast and follows a group of rebels who band together to fight the evil Darth Vader's plans for intergalactic domination. It is a standalone prequel to the 1977 film 'A New Hope.'
'Rogue One' reviews on Tuesday did not mention any political bias and the movie has already grabbed the highest advance ticket sales this year, U.S. online ticket seller Fandango said.
Some were glowing, like Rochard Roeper who wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times: 'A rousing, fast-paced, action-jammed, spectacular-looking thrill ride with spirited performances from a thoroughly likable cast of characters, both human and CGI.'
And Tim Grierson wrote in a rave review for Screen International: 'Star wars, indeed: the thrilling Rogue One brings a gritty combat-movie aesthetic to George Lucas’s beloved space opera, but not at the expense of a thoughtful, emotional story about the foot soldiers who make sacrifices in the name of a movement.
'Perhaps the darkest, most action-packed Star Wars installment, director Gareth Edwards’ standalone adventure establishes its own rhythm, balancing fan demands with grand, poetic moments unlike anything this cinematic galaxy has previously achieved.'
That excitement was not felt however by Richard Brody of The New Yorker, who wrote in his review: 'Lobotomized and depersonalized, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the latest entry in the film franchise, is a pure and perfect product that makes last year’s flavor, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, feel like an exemplar of hands-on humanistic warmth and dramatic intimacy.'
And A.O. Scott wrote in his review for The New York Times: 'It doesn’t so much preach to the choir as propagandize to the captives, telling us that we’re free spirits and partners on the journey. The only force at work here is the force of habit.'
Meanwhile. some fans say they will be boycotting the latest film in the hugely successful franchise, claiming that the movie has anti-Trump themes.
The outcry began back in November when the film's screenwriter, Oscar-nominee Chris Weitz, made comments about Trump after his win in the election.
He tweeted a photo soon after the election of the Rebel insignia with a safety pin through it, which has been used to show solidarity with minorities, women, and immigrants in the wake of Donald Trump's win last month.
'Star Wars against hate. Spread it,' wrote Weitz.
Torn: Reviews meanwhile are mixed, with some critics love the movie and others finding many problems with the new film
That led to Trump supporter Jack Posobiec tweeting out a a completely unfounded and unproven statement about the film last week, saying: 'Star Wars writers rewrote and reshot Rogue One to add in Anti Trump scenes calling him a racist. Disgusting.'
That is not the case according to the head of Disney.
'I think the whole story has been overblown and, quite frankly, it's silly,' Disney CEO Bob Iger told The Hollywood Reporter at the film's premiere on Saturday.
'I have no reaction to [this] story at all. Frankly, this is a film that the world should enjoy. It is not a film that is, in any way, a political film. There are no political statements in it, at all.'
Despite that claim however, a number of vocal Trump supporters are now claiming they will not see the film.
'Writers of new Star Wars said people who vote for Trump support Hitler. If you still give them your money, shameful,' wrote Mike Cernovich, one of the most vocal members of the alt-right.
Another Twitter user showed Trump and Putin riding atop an AT-AT Walker.
And Posobiec tweeted again, writing: 'I just cancelled my Star Wars Rogue One tickets after the writers said its an Anti-Trump movie. I'll take my dollars elsewhere.'
Weitz meanwhile also tweeted in response to Posobiec, writing: 'A thought for the end of the day: @jackprosobiec is a liar. But then you know that, Jack.'
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