Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Eyes $65-70 Million Friday

When it comes to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the standalone is making some stellar box-office runs. Last night, previews for the Star Wars spin-off raked in more than $29 million. And, now, the film is on track to pull in between $65-70 million on its official opening day.

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Rogue One is now playing all over the country, and fans of Star Wars are showing up in droves to give the movie support. The film is playing in more than 4,100 locations. Lucasfilm is predicting that Rogue One will earn between $135-145 million in its opening weekend. However, there are reports which call that figure conservative and say the movie could realistically draw in $150 million or more.

If the latter estimates are right, then Rogue One stands a shot at having the highest-grossing opener of 2016. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice raked in $166 million back in March when it premiered, and its previews racked up $27.7 million along the way.

Of course, there will be inevitable comparisons between Rogue One and its saga counterparts. When Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens debuted last year, the movie launched to an insane opening. The long-awaited film premiered to $247.9 million, making it the highest-grossing domestic opening of all-time.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story hits US theaters December 16, 2016. Directed by Gareth Edwards, it's the first of the new standalone features from Lucasfilm and Disney, which take place outside the core "Skywalker Saga" of films noted by an Episode number. Rogue One tells the story of the small band of rebels that were tasked with stealing the plans to the first Death Star. The story spins directly off the opening crawl from the original Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope. In that crawl, it read: "Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire. During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire's ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, an armored space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet."

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Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is set between the events of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and shortly before the events of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. In the film, resistance fighters embark on a daring mission to steal the Empire's plans for the Death Star.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story stars Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Riz Ahmed, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Jiang Wen, Forest Whitaker, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk and Jonathan Aris. The film is directed by Gareth Edwards and written by Gary Whitta and Chris Weitz, from a story conceived by John Knoll.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is out today.

[H/T] THR