The battle for first place at the weekend box office was a little closer than expected, but according to current estimatesStar Wars: The Force Awakensremains the number one film in North America. That makes four consecutive wins forStar Wars 7, which became the highest-grossing movie in domestic box office history earlier this week. According to Disney,The Forceearned an additional $41.6 million this weekend, representing a drop of 54% from one week ago. Though a steeper decline than initially predicted, this weekend’s estimate puts the North American total forThe Force Awakenswell over $800 million – the first movie in history to hit that milestone.
WhileStar Wars 7has pretty much captured every domestic record it was eligible for, the film’s chance to snag the global record remains hard to predict. One big mystery was how the film would play in China: the second largest movie market in the world but a country where the originalStar Warstrilogy was not available until very recently. After finally opening in China on Saturday, Disney is reporting thatThe Force Awakensearned an estimated $33 million. That’s on par with the first day ofAvengers: Age of Ultron, which is a good sign considering that film went on to earn almost $250 million in China alone.
The all-time worldwide record isAvatar’s staggering $2.788 billion, 72% of which came from international markets. By comparison,The Force Awakensnow totals $1.73 billion worldwide, with 53% in overseas grosses. That total is enough forTFAto overtakeJurassic Worldas the number three movie in global history.
After defeatingThe Forceon Friday,The Revenantfell to second on the weekend chart with an estimated $38 million from 3,375 locations.As we told you yesterday, the survival drama blew away its pre-release projection of $19-$20 million thanks to strong reviews and word of mouth, including a B+ CinemaScore.The Revenantalso opened a bit higher thanLone Survivor, which debuted on the same weekend in 2013 with a perfect A+ CinemaScore.
The weekend’s sole new release (The Revenantstarted in limited release on Christmas Day) wasThe Forest. The PG-13 horror movie has earned scathing reviews (12% onRotten Tomatoes) and a C from CinemaScore audiences. Even so,The Forestended up topping industry expectations with an estimated $13 million launch from 2,451 locations. The film was projected to open around $9 million, which would have put it on par withDevil’s Due, Fox’s R-rated horror pic from January 2014. But instead,The Forestopened more in line withWoman in Black 2, which saw a $15 million debut last January.
Among holdovers, most titles experienced declines following the end of the official holiday season.Daddy’s HomeandSistersboth saw drops of over 43%, though each continues to play above expectations. The same does not hold true forThe Hateful Eight, which fell 59% in its sophomore frame despite adding 464 new locations to its theatre count. The weekend’s best hold was -30% forThe Big Short, which added 941 venues in advance of its expected Best Comedy win at this weekend’s Golden Globes.
Looking ahead, the box office reign ofStar Wars: The Force Awakensis destined to come to an end next weekend. The new number one film should beRide Along 2, the sequel to the hit buddy comedy.Ride Alongset a new record for January when it opened with $41.5 million on the same frame in 2014 – though that record was crushed one year later byAmerican Sniper.Ride Along 2is expected to outperform its predecessor (like a good sequel should) with over $45 million. That means you may expect to seeStar Wars 7in second or even third place by this time next week.
Until then, savory the victory one last time:
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
$41,630,000
The Revenant
$38,000,000
Daddy’s Home
$15,000,000
The Forest
$13,088,000
$7,170,000
The Hateful Eight
$6,351,000
The Big Short
$6,300,000
Alvin & the Chipmunks 4
$5,500,000
$4,500,000
Concussion
$3,050,000
