The latest box-office projections place "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" on a course for a worldwide opening somewhere between $280 million and $350 million.

That's well short of the $528.9 million global debut of "The Force Awakens" at the same time last year, but no one was expecting this standalone film to approach those record heights. However, as Deadline points out, if "Rogue One" were to break $300 million in its opening salvo, it would be one of only 20 films to do so. Two of those were released this year: "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" with $422.5 million, and "Captain America: Civil War" with $379.5 million.

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The website expects "Rogue One" to rake in between $140 million and $150 million this weekend in the United States and Canada, with foreign estimates placed at north of $140 million, with some analysts saying the figure could reach as high as $200 million.

The first of the franchise's standalone films -- a Han Solo movie follows in 2018 -- "Rogue One" is set just prior to the events of 1977's "Star Wars," and focuses on a ragtag group of Rebels that undertake a dangerous mission to steal the design plans for the Galactic Empire's new planet-destroying superweapon, the Death Star.

Directed by Gareth Edwards, the film stars Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Jiang Wen and Forest Whitaker. "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" opens Dec. 15 in the United States and Dec. 16 in the United Kingdom.