‘Rogue One’ nabs weekend haul

'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” posted the second-biggest December opening weekend ever, validating Walt Disney Co.'s strategy of spinning new stories and characters off the sci-fi classic.

The feature, a prequel to the original 1977 'Star Wars,” collected an estimated $155 million in theaters in the United States and Canada, ComScore Inc. said in an email Sunday. Last year's 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens” holds the record for the largest December opening weekend, with $248 million.

With 'Rogue One,” Disney is testing its ability to expand the 'Star Wars” franchise beyond the trilogies created by George Lucas, following its $4 billion takeover of Lucasfilm Ltd. in 2012. As with the strategy Disney applied successfully with its Marvel Entertainment superheroes, the studio is creating a universe of characters and storylines that can be interwoven to create new movies.

The pressure on Disney will be to keep fans coming back to theaters for at least four more Star Wars installments.

'Rogue One” rang up $290.5 million worldwide, Disney said in a statement.