Box office is down in 2019 despite 'The Rise of Skywalker.' That's not what's worrying theaters most
LOS ANGELES - Hollywood's staggering revenue disparity at the box office was on full display this weekend as 2019 neared its close.
"Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker," the latest film in the four-decade-old science fiction saga, grossed an estimated $176 million in domestic ticket sales Thursday through Sunday, according to Disney, which owns the lucrative franchise. It made space dust out of Universal Pictures' widely panned adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical "Cats," which collected $6.5 million, less than half what analysts were predicting.
With the opening results of "Skywalker" and "Cats" in the bank, 2019 is on pace to close with a total of roughly $11.4 billion in the U.S. and Canada, down 4% from last year's record levels, according to industry estimates.
The results from the two major new releases this weekend reflect a vexing problem for North American cinema owners, who have grown increasingly concerned about the vast delta between the haves and have-nots at the box office - and the lack of a middle ground between the two.
