Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker earns $90 million on opening day; Tom Hooper's musical adaptation Cats mints $2.6 million

The force is strong for Walt Disney and Lucasfilm_’s_  Star Wars chapter, as J.J. Abrams’  The Rise of Skywalker  earns $90 million on Friday, reports Forbes . The film is expected to crush the box office this weekend with an enormous $195 million earnings.

According to Variety , The Rise of Skywalker’s Friday total represents the sixth-highest opening day of all time, behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, which generated $91 million when it opened in 2011. Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Star Wars: The Force Awakens both topped The Rise of Skywalker’s debut with $104 million and $119 million, respectively, for the fourth and second-highest opening days of all time.

If the estimations for the domestic opening weekend conclude positively, it would  place The Rise of Skywalker  just above the $191 million openings of Avengers: Age of Ultron and the Lion King remake for the eighth highest domestic opening of all-time.

The film which received mixed reviews from the critics, holds at 57% Rotten Tomatoes score and B+ CinemaScore. The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, both subject to more favorable critical reviews, had reeled in $248 million and $220 million in their openings weekends.

The Rise of Skywalker sees the return of Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver, and Oscar Isaac, as well as Richard E. Grant, Kelly Marie Tran, Domhnall Gleeson, and Lupita Nyong’o. Billy Dee Williams, Mark Hamill, and Carrie Fisher also appear. Fisher died in 2016 before filming on The Rise of Skywalker began. However, there was unused footage from 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens that Abrams  repurposed  to give Princess Leia a proper goodbye.

Meanwhile, fellow new release Cats generated $2.6 million on Friday and is looking at a mediocre $8 million to land in No. 4 for the weekend from 3,380 North American locations. Universal’s adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Weber musical, directed by Tom Hooper, has been written off by critics and social media despite its star-studded cast, including the likes of Idris Elba, Taylor Swift, Judi Dench, Ian McKellan and Jason Derulo.