As December rolls around again, trees become bare, wind turns icy, and of course, another Star Wars movie is to be released tonight.

After last year’s success of “The Force Awakens,” “Rogue One” has high expectations from both critics and the general public. There have already been varying predictions stating that the movie could flop, or possibly be equally as popular as “The Force Awakens.”

“The Force Awakens” ended its record-breaking release with more than $2 billion in box office sales. This lead experts in the movie industry to believe that “Rogue One” will probably end up selling closer to $1 billion overall.

Of course these are just predictions, who knows how many Ewoks will decide to go to the theater.

The plot of “Rogue One” centers around Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), who is tasked to steal the plans of the Death Star. She teams up with Captain Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen), and K-2SO (Alan Tudyk) to complete this mission.

Other members of the somewhat star-studded cast include Forest Whitaker and Mads Mikkelsen.

For those looking for a continuation of the series, be forewarned. “Rogue One” is a standalone movie taking place in the Star Wars universe, not part of the new trilogy.

It takes place before the original “Star Wars: A New Hope” as rebels try to steal plans for the Death Star.

Gareth Edwards took the responsibility of directing  “Rogue One.” Whether he is a great or a bad director is questionable, as his work includes the newest “Godzilla” movie.

In comparison to other Star Wars films’ directors, Edwards exploded into the limelight recently. His movie “Monsters”, released in 2010, shot him into the big leagues of film-making and helped him land this film.

Writer Gary Whitta has worked as a screenwriter, author, game designer, journalist, and editor-in-chief of PC Gamer.

His resume is quite impressive, and includes the screenplay for “The Book of Eli.” But one title that Witta wrote stands out as a menacing reminder of failed movies: the 2013 film “After Earth.”

All those potentially fatal issues also have to include George Lucas’ responsibility of the character creation. He has hit grand slams in this area, but one character is the most notorious failure, and we knew that at meesa.

Finally the last slight break in this movie is the choice of Jones as the lead. The cast of “The Force Awakens” had experience, but each character (excluding the members of the original cast) was relatively unknown in the movie industry.

This differs with Jones, who is quite successful. Her work includes roles in the TV show “Girls.” as well as in films “Inferno” (2016) and “The Theory of Everything” (2014). Diego Luna also breaks this trend to a degree as he has acted in “Milk” (2008) and “Elysium”(2014).

The movie may be wrapped in speculations and rumors of re-shooting and a host of other offenses, but it still has the capability to be the top movie of the year.

The only way to know for sure is to see it tonight before someone spoils  the ending and reveals who dies.

May Han Solo rest in peace.