Rogue One: A Star Wars Story soared to top of box office with $290.5 million globally on its opening weekend.
It is the second-biggest weekend December debut in history.
The US accounted for about half of the first Star Wars spinoff’s total, making $155 million, according to box office analyst Exhibitor Relations.
However, the tally is less than the record $248 million taken in 2015 by Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Rogue One is yet to open in China and South Korea.
The biggest movie of all time title is still held by Avatar, which made almost $2.8 billion in 2009, followed by Titanic on close to $2.2 billion in 1997. The Force Awakens has made about $2.07 billion.
Produced by Lucasfilm and directed by Briton Gareth Edwards, Rogue One stars Felicity Jones and Riz Ahmed, alongside Forest Whitaker and Diego Luna.
The first standalone chapter in Rogue One is set shortly before the events of the original 1977 movie and tells the story of Rebel Alliance fighters trying to steal plans for the Empire’s feared Death Star.
The next movie in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, known as Episode VIII, is scheduled to be released in December 2017.
Donald Trump’s fans are urging a boycott of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, due for release in the United States next week.
The campaign began with a series of tweets from activist Jack Posobiec, who claimed the writers rewrote and reshot the movie to add in anti-Trump scenes.
Screenwriter Chris Weitz said that this was “completely fake”, though he and another writer have tweeted their opposition to Donald Trump.
#DumpStarWars has been re-tweeted 120,000 times in the past 24 hours.
In a Periscope video, Jack Posobiec, who is an activist with Citizens for Trump, claimed the writers had said the Empire in Rogue One “is a white supremacist organization like the Trump administration and the diverse rebels are going to defeat them”.
“They’re trying to make the point of using this movie to push the false narrative… that Trump is a racist,” he said.
Image source Flickr
The basis of the claims appears to be tweets sent by Chris Weitz and fellow screenwriter Gary Whitta.
Following Donald Trump’s election win on November 8, Chris Weitz posted: “Please note that the Empire is a white supremacist (human) organization.”
Gary Whitta responded: “Opposed by a multi-cultural group led by brave women.”
Both tweets were deleted within the day and Chris Weitz later apologized for politicizing the movie.
In the wake of the election, both writers also changed their Twitter avatars to the symbol of the Rebel Alliance, with a safety pin – a symbol which has been adopted in support of minorities.
President-elect Donald Trump has 17 million followers on Twitter.
Among them are a group of fans who frequently champion him and are quick to denigrate those who oppose or criticize the president-elect.
#DumpStarWars is only the latest in a series of online campaigns they have launched.
In the last few weeks, there have also been calls to boycott the cereal company Kelloggs, Starbucks and the musical Hamilton.
A handful of accounts are frequently re-tweeted in the thousands.
They tend belong to people who work in the media, managing websites or producing other media supporting Donald Trump.
A new trailer for Gareth Edwards’ Rogue One: A Star Wars Story has been released, offering fans a fleeting glimpse of Darth Vader.
The spin-off trailer concludes with a shot of Vader and the sound of his trademark heavy breathing.
Felicity Jones stars as Jyn Erso, the leader of a Rebel mission to steal the plans for the Death Star.
The movie is set before the time of the first Star Wars film A New Hope, released in 1977, and does not form part of the main series.
The two-minute promo, which is different from the one shown at last month’s Star Wars Celebration event in London, begins with new character Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker) telling Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) that “the world is coming undone”.
The trailer goes on to show Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) being told about the mission for which they have been selected.
Subsequent scenes feature a new robot character voiced by Alan Tudyk, a blind warrior played by Hong Kong action star Donnie Yen, and an Imperial Walker being struck by a missile.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will be released on December 16.
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