1917 Ticket Sales Outpacing Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

It looks like Sam Mendes's awards-season hit 1917 is on pace to end Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker's iron grip on the top spot at the box office, if presale numbers at ticket vendor Fandango are anything to go by. The company reports that following 1917's Best Picture/Drama win at the 2020 Golden Globe Awards, the film is rallying its leading all of Fandango's ticket sales today and outselling Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in this weekend's showtimes. At the same point in the sales cycle, 1917 is also surpassing Ford v Ferrari in Fandango presales for its wide release weekend.

1917 centers on a pair of British World War I soldiers who are given a daunting assignment: to cross enemy lines and pass along an urgent message that could potentially save 1,600 of their comrades, among whom is one of the soldiers' brother. The film was shot to look like a single, continuous shot with cameras moving alongside the two men as they race against time.

"For fans of innovative storytelling, the solid advance ticket sales for 1917 is great news, as it proves there's a moviegoer demand for original content," Fandango Managing Editor Erik Davis said in a statement. "Sam Mendes' edge-of-your-seat epic is an inspiring tale of honor that demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible."

To achieve the unique look and feel of the movie, Mendes (best known for directing Best Picture winner American Beauty and the James Bond films Skyfall and Spectre) worked with cinematographer Roger Deakins, who has shot some of the most beautiful films of the last 40 years, from Sid and Nancy and The Shawshank Redemption to Skyfall and Blade Runner 2049.

The film currently has an 89% "fresh" rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes and boasts 8 Critics Choice nominations; it is expected to be a significant contender in the upcoming Oscars race.

1917 stars George MacKay, Dean-Charles Chapman, Mark Strong, Andrew Scott, Richard Madden, Claire Duburcq, Colin Firth, and Benedict Cumberbatch. You can see it in wide release this weekend. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the final installment in the "Skywalker Saga" that began with 1977's Star Wars, has grossed more than $450 million domestically and $935 million worldwide since its release. The film is likely to become the final 2019 Disney release to cross $1 billion globally, after Avengers: Endgame, The Lion King, Frozen II, Captain Marvel, Toy Story 4, and Aladdin.