“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” took in over $29 million last night in Thursday previews. It also scored $33 million abtoad. The Star Wars film opens in the widest release ever today, and the Thursday take will be counted as part of Friday’s box office.

This new installment of the Star Wars saga has an 85 rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but that doesn’t mean anything. Fans are going to see it over and over, no matter what.

Still, “Rogue One” is going to be a big hit. Judging from Twitter responses last night, that final sequence– and final scene– are like a dream come true. The flourish which links “Rogue One” with “A New Hope” sends the audience out with huge smiles, and that’s going to make it a blockbuster.

So keep refreshing for the updated Thursday number…

It’s happened to many, many movie stars in the past. Time has caught up to Julia Roberts. Once the reigning star of the big screen, she’s heading to television.

Roberts has signed to make a limited TV series for Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Productions. It’s Roberts’ first test of getting into TV, and at least she’s signed with a hot company known for quality product. Annapurna will then field offers from HBO, Showtime, Amazon, Netflix and so on.

For Julia, it’s inevitable as she heads into her 50s that TV in some form is her future. Many actresses have made the transition a triumph. Candice Bergen is the best example, with “Murphy Brown.” Bergen won many Emmys and made a small fortune with her show. And she was never the box office draw that Roberts was in the 90s.

But now Roberts has had to face facts. Her last real ‘hit’ movies were in 2010– “Eat Pray Love” and “Valentine’s Day.” She had an enormous run of $100 million movies ending with “Erin Brockovich” in 2000 and an Oscar for Best Actress. After that her biggest successes were in ensemble pieces like the “Oceans’ Eleven” series. Her last film, “Money Monster,” with George Clooney, was a disaster at $41 million. (By the way– where is George Clooney? I kind of miss him. Your break is over, George!)

Lots of stars are signing up for TV shows and mini series including Robert DeNiro, Meryl Streep, and Julianne Moore. But for Roberts, this is a smart career move. If Viola Davis can be in a TV series and still get Oscar nominations, I say follow that example!

Sad to say, “Elle”– starring potential Oscar nominee Isabelle Huppert– is out of the running for Best Foreign Language Film. Nine films have made the latest round, and they will pared to five for final nominations. “Toni Erdmann” is the favorite, from Sony Pictures Classics. But “Elle” is out, and so is France. Huppert can still be nominated for Best Actress, and she should be, so we’ll how that goes. I’m a little surprised that “Elle” was bypassed but the Xavier Dolan film got in. You’d almost like “My Life as a Zucchini” to get in for the title! But we’ll squash that idea now.

Australia, “Tanna,” Bentley Dean, Martin Butler, directors;

Canada, “It’s Only the End of the World,” Xavier Dolan, director;

Denmark, “Land of Mine,” Martin Zandvliet, director;
Germany, “Toni Erdmann,” Maren Ade, director;
Iran, “The Salesman,” Asghar Farhadi, director;
Norway, “The King’s Choice,” Erik Poppe, director;
Russia, “Paradise,” Andrei Konchalovsky, director;
Sweden, “A Man Called Ove,” Hannes Holm, director;
Switzerland, “My Life as a Zucchini,” Claude Barras, director.

The SAG Awards nominations brought another setback for Martin Scorsese’s “Silence.” The stunning film was blanked out again, as with the Golden Globes.

The problem is that “Silence” came too late for proper screening for voters. And there are no screener DVDs that could have been sent around. In retrospect, Paramount may have done better to wait and release “Silence” next year. But the lure of a Scorsese movie– much less a masterpiece– was too much. That’s understandable.

In a proper setting, “Silence” would have picked up a Best Ensemble nomination, and noms for Andrew Garfield and Issay Ogata for lead and supporting actor. But just not enough people have seen it. Now Paramount will have to mobilize (they have a great publicity department) to get all the guilds to see the film fast. I do hope that works.

But what happens now clearly is that by mid fall, all voters start to form an opinion of what the important movies are. By late fall, the “fix” so to speak is in. “Hell or High Water” came from Cannes. “La La Land,” “Manchester,” and “Moonlight” came from Toronto, Telluride and the New York Film Festival. With so many distractions in the real world, Academy voters obviously have trouble processing new ideas late in the game.

Two films I thought would get Best Ensemble and didn’t — “20th Century Women” and “Lion.” The latter at least has been featured on “60 Minutes.” But the former has low visibility. A lot of people I’ve mentioned it to have never heard of it. That’s really a shame.

You may recognize some familiar faces in “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” After all it’s set just before and around the time of the original “Star Wars” movie.

But one actor from that 1977 film looks a little waxy from the passage of time– and his death some 22 years ago.

Peter Cushing, who played Grand Moff Tarkin, the great villain of the Empire and essentially Darth Vader’s boss, is back. And I don’t mean for a quick cameo or for a minute. Governor Tarkin is really back, as if time has stood still. Director Gareth Edwards has re-animated Tarkin aka Cushing quite convincingly. Tarkin is very busy in scenes with Vader (James Earl Jones) and Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) as they scheme to take over the galaxy from the Death Star.

Edwards and his team have worked very seriously to re-create Tarkin, and it could lead to a weird trend in movies that want to bringcback dead actors for flashbacks or new scenes. It works here because it’s a one time deal. There’s one other CGI animated character from the “Star Wars” canon in “Rogue One,” but that remains a top top secret.

“Rogue One” opens Friday and could bring in $150 million over the weekend. I have a feeling many fans will see it more than once.