'Rogue One' Gives December Box Office A Bigger Boost

MKM Partners said Walt Disney Co (NYSE: DIS)’s "Rogue One" helped drive a strong absolute weekend gross and gave December box office a big fillip.

"Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" easily finished in first place with revenue of $155 million, which topped MKM’s estimate of $150 million estimate and came in at the high end of forecasts. "Moana" finished in second place grossing $11.7 million, followed by "Office Christmas Party" bringing in $8.5 million. Both came in-line with expectations.

Analyst Eric Handler noted that revenue from the weekend's Top 10 films totaled a sizable $202 million, which was in-line with his expectation although the number was in a 33 percent year-over-year drop given the extremely tough comparisons from "The Force Awakens."

“In our view, the box office appears to be tracking below our -5.5% forecast. The ability to get close to our forecast will likely come down to Rogue One grossing somewhere in the $400mn-$450mn range along with solid openings from Sing and Passengers,” Handler wrote in a note.

Shares of Disney were up 1.71 percent to $105.69.