Leonardo DiCaprio’s The Revenant can’t be stopped by the historic winter storm Jonas, which closed cinemas on the East Coast. The survival film, set in the brutal winter of 1823, landed in first place for the first time after two second-place finishes with $16 million ($119.2 million to date).
“Studios often blame poor weekends on bad weather, but that was truly the case during Jonas. It was a big deal for a number of movies,” says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Rentrak. “But The Revenant did something astonishing this weekend taking the top spot with this intense wilderness epic. It’s flourishing.”
In second place at the box office is Star Wars: The Force Awakens with $14.3 million, bringing its record-breaking domestic total to $879.3 million ($1.940 billion worldwide). Nabbing the third spot is Kevin Hart and Ice Cube’s Ride Along 2, with nearly $13 million ($59.1 million total).
The weekend included newcomers led by Lionsgate’s Dirty Grandpa, STX Entertainment’s The Boy and Sony’s The Fifth Wave.
Dirty Grandpa, starring Zac Efron and Robert De Niro’s, debuted in fourth place with $11.5 million from 2,912 locations. The R-rated spring break comedy, which didn’t screen early for critics, received negative reviews – scoring a measly 8 percent “fresh” rating on RottenTomatoes.com and a B CinemaScore from moviegoers.
Rounding out the top five is horror film newcomer The Boy with $11.3 million in its debut weekend. Playing strongly to females (62 percent) and those under the age of 25, the film earned a B minus CinemaScore from moviegoers and a 29 percent ‘fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes from critics.
Chloë Grace Moretz’s sci-fi fantasy The 5th Wave debuted in sixth with $10.7 million. Due to the storm, Moretz told East Coast fans on Twitter not to brave the blizzard and to stay safe. Based on the books by Rick Yancey, The 5th Wave received an 18 percent “fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes and a B minus CinemaScore from moviegoers.
Fans on the east coast please stay safe and warm, @5thWaveMovie will be in the theaters next week, your safety is my main concern #staysafe
— Chloë Grace Moretz (@ChloeGMoretz) January 23, 2016
“With the weather, it was just not in the cards for the new releases to perform well this weekend — although they may see some decent actual numbers for Sunday if theaters in the storm area are open,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst with Rentrak. “It turns out that ‘The Revenant’ had a perfect release date.”
Top 10 Films at Weekend Box Office: January 22-24
- The Revenant — $16 million
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens — $14.3 million
- Ride Along 2 — $13 million
- Dirty Grandpa — $11.5 million
- The Boy — $11.3 million
- The 5th Wave — $10.7 million
- 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi — $9.8 million
- Daddy’s Home — $5.3 million
- Norm of the North — $4.1 million
- The Big Short — $3.5 million
