over at BOT:

$22m-$24m for SW8 with 32 % school vacation, compared to 48 % for R1 and 77 % for SW7...

RTH update:

$21.5m

Not too good, but let's wait for a comparison with the other releases.

That's a lame Monday. Of course, people will claim it's 100% about schools. But it's not just children that attend movies. That $21.5m figure is disappointing after such a big weekend. I mean, R1 even made $17m. TFA made $40m!

Well, when the children can't go the parents don't go so I think it is a valid reason. I don't know why most schools wouldn't be out already though.

People that hated the movie are affecting its box office. Too much darkness, need the light to shine brighter

Yes, because kids were off school. And not just kids - a lot of parents have similar days off. TLJ isn't going to match TFA's boost until later in the week.

Next week is when the fun begins. Christmas Monday followed by Discount Tuesday with a bunch of people still on vacation. Could be $80m between those two days combined.

A very lame Monday for almost every movie. So SW's drop looks fine, after all.

Yep. I spoke too soon.

Yep. Its almost like no boost from holidays.

Still, there is some effect of certain schools being out. A lot of movies increased from last Monday. Especially kids/family ones.

For sure. We would be looking at 70-80% drops from Sunday grosses if this was a random Monday earlier this month.

There might be the case that it doesn't recover fun these weak weekdays as it will be tad older going into the holiday boost.

Look at how much difference there is this year vs. last year for the Monday drops of Coco vs. Moana. It's night and day. That's how much difference a day can make this time of year.

Colleges, high schools, and grade schools let out at all different schedules, possibly dependent on snow days.

This is the bigger clue at this point about how legs will go - RT audience score.

TFA 88
R1 87
TLJ 55

RT scored has been rigged. This has been documented. Just look it up.

To an extent, but not every negative review is fake. I can point to a crapload of real humans on YouTube ripping the movie to shreds. By all accounts many of them seem to be big fans of the series, including Force Awakens.

I think legs will be similar to Rogue One. Very good, but not incredible legs like Force Awakens. Next week the holiday boost will be fun to watch. Rogue One was up 82% on the second Monday compared to first Monday. Something similar would be around $39m for Last Jedi next Monday.

Most folks who are ripping the film to shreds are not giving any substance in their reviews, but that is a conversation for the critics forum. Needless to say the film is divisive amongst the fan base, but not so much with the much larger casual fan base

I don't think the casuals are as pumped about this one as they were with TFA, but we will see with the legs. The casual audience obviously has a much bigger impact than the diehard fans. If the casuals feel similar to this one like they did with TFA, then legs should be pretty similar between the two movies.

Legs will be weaker, you are correct. But not terrible like the RT score indicates is my point

It's impossible to have terrible legs with this release date. Worst case scenario would be maybe around a 2.9 multi, but even that seems pretty much impossible. I think it's locked for at least 680, which is a 3.09 multi. 700+ should happen, but who knows beyond that.

I've pored over a sizable number of reviews/reactions/articles from prominent online personalities and acquaintances across a broad spectrum. It's clear that there is a divide here that simply did not exist with TFA.

I'm not sure why it isn't reflected in the Cinemascore (both films getting an A), without seeing the demographic breakdown. Cinemascore is conducted on opening night, so it gets the fans who are the most willing/desperate to like the film immediately after viewing. After a day or two to ponder, they may feel much different than they did in the excitement of opening night. Also the older crowd (much more likely to dislike the direction of the franchise), are much more likely to go to their first viewing Saturday or Sunday (or later). Regardless of the opening night grade I'm highly confident that the repeat viewing factor is lower for TLJ than TFA or R1.

The drops are almost exactly on par with the last time the 18th was on a Monday, in 2006. So this is a fine number.

And LOL at anyone trying to legit use the RT Audience score for this right now. Come on.

TDKR got an "A" just like TDK, yet the multiplier was 17.3% worse (2.78 compared to 3.36). Ultron got an "A" Cinemascore and dropped 20% in multiplier from the first Avengers (2.40 compared to 3.00).

The first Avengers did receive an "A+" Cinemascore, which is about the only Cinemascore we know for sure is a good indicator of very very strong WOM. Some of the A+ films in the past include the likes of Forrest Gump, Avatar, Titanic, Terminator 2, and The Lion King.

Anything below A+ and it's hit or miss. Ultron and TDKR both got "A" scores, yet their WOM was nowhere close to something like Inception which had a "B+" Cinemascore.

I had forgotten how tragic December 2006 box office was.