The Rise of Skywalker initial box office predictions for its opening weekend have taken a hit after negative reviews. The final installment in the sequel trilogy was already on track to have the lowest opening so far, but nobody expected it to fall in line with Rogue One numbers. When the initial estimates were made, the studio was hoping for positive word of mouth to boost the opening weekend ticket sales, but that unfortunately has not happened. As of this writing, the movie has a 57% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The Rise of Skywalker reviews are in and they're not pretty. Without getting into specifics, the long-awaited movie has been criticized for being overstuffed and not making much sense. Some have even called it the worst movie out of the entire franchise, which might be a bit of a stretch. Regardless, the final installment in the Skywalker Saga was on track to earn just below The Last Jedi's $220 million debut with hopes that it would exceed the Rian Johnson-directed movie in time.

As of now, The Rise of Skywalker is estimated to bring in anywhere from $160 million to $190 million domestically. In comparison, Rogue One brought in $155 million during its opening weekend. The positive word of mouth isn't happening for the movie as the negative reviews continue to land online. There are positive reviews for the sequel, but the bad seem to be outweighing the good at this time. With that being said, The Rise of Skywalker isn't going to lose money at the box office, it's just not going to get anywhere near the epic numbers of Avengers: Endgame, which is now the highest grossing movie of all time, or even 2015's The Force Awakens.

Even Disney has admitted that they tried to put out too much Star Wars too fast, which is also a pretty big factor as to why The Rise of Skywalker's opening weekend won't be stellar. While critics enjoyed The Last Jedi, fans did not and they are still voicing their opinions, two years later. When Solo hit theaters less than 6 months later, a lot of fans had had enough. Disney is now rethinking their strategy and have put their big screen projects on hold for a few years, which seems like the wise thing to do.

Looking ahead, Lucasfilm and Disney are focusing on the new Disney+ shows, which are various stages of development. The first show, The Mandalorian, has proven to be a huge success for the new streaming platform and the Star Wars franchise as a whole. Looking at the small screen projects might be what it takes to get everything back to normal in terms of the franchise success while giving the big screen a rest. The new box office estimates for The Rise of Skywalker come to us from Box Office Pro.