Disney re-released Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in 250 domestic IMAX theaters this weekend, as the studio builds towards the upcoming streaming series Andor. The film, originally released in 2016 to positive reviews and box office success, grossed $1 million in ticket sales over the weekend, pushing its lifetime IMAX haul to $105 million. Rogue One is now among the top 10 highest-grossing films released in the premium format.
The re-release includes a special preview of Andor, which serves as a spinoff to Rogue One, which itself was the first in a series of planned live-action theatrical spinoffs to the main Star Wars movies. Directed by Gareth Edwards and featuring an ensemble cast led by Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Riz Ahmed, Donnie Yen, Jiang Wen, Mads Mikkelsen and Forest Whitaker, Rogue One grossed over $1 billion worldwide in its original theatrical run, against a reported budget in the vicinity of $265 million. The film told the story of the doomed crew that stole the plans of the Death Star, enabling the Rebel Alliance's victory in Star Wars: A New Hope.
For all intents and purposes, Disney’s ambitious plans to expand the Skywalker-centric Star Wars universe appeared to have paid off back then, despite the now-infamous hiccups. As fans would recall, Rogue One had a notoriously difficult production, with the third act undergoing major rewrites under the supervision of Tony Gilroy. The film also saw a change in composer, with Michael Giacchino stepping in as Alexandre Desplat’s replacement. Giacchino was given mere weeks to complete the score.
Gilroy returns as the showrunner of Andor, which will tell the origin story of Luna’s intelligence officer character, Cassian Andor. The 12-episode series will also feature Genevieve O'Reilly, Stellan Skarsgård, Adria Arjona, Denise Gough, Kyle Soller, and Fiona Shaw.
Disney pivoted to long-form streaming after the franchise ran into roadblocks on the theatrical front. While Rogue One was a resounding success, its follow-up — Solo: A Star Wars Story — became the first-ever Star Wars film to bomb at the box office. Thanks to a budget that ballooned to around $275 million because of a production that was even more troubled than that of its predecessor, Solo grossed just $393 million worldwide, essentially derailing the entire franchise. The franchise’ fate was sealed with the relative underperformance of the final installment in the main trilogy — Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
But even as the Star Wars movies struggled in theaters, the franchise flourished on streaming, thanks mostly to the hit series The Mandalorian (which is now awaiting its third season) and its spinoff, The Book of Boba Fett. A third live-action show, Obi-Wan, was released earlier this year to mostly positive reviews. Several more shows are in various stages of development. Andor is slated to debut on Disney+ on September 21. You can watch our interview with Edwards here, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.