Star Wars: The Force Awakens can’t be tamed!
The sci-fi blockbuster took in another $41.6 million this weekend, reaching a domestic haul of $812 million, and becoming the first film to ever cross $800 million domestically.
Having passed Jurassic World ($1.67 billion), Force Awakens now stands as the third biggest film of all time with a whopping $1.73 billion globally. Earlier this week, the film also took the crown from Avatar to become the biggest domestic film in history, however it is still more than $1 billion shy of Avatar’s worldwide total ($2.79 billion). Titanic still holds second place with $2.19 billion.
Newcomer The Revenant pulled in $38 million across 3,375 locations for a second place finish. The Alejandro G. Inarritu-directed thriller, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, is about a fur trapper whose quest for vengeance finds him braving roaring rapids, dodging hostile Native American tribes and disemboweling a dead horse.
It appealed to men (57 percent male) and older ticket-buyers (73 percent over the age of 25), giving the film a B plus CinemaScore, while critics gave it a strong 81 percent “fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes.
“Quality prevails,” said Chris Aronson, Fox’s domestic distribution chief. “This is a real, reality-based film drawn from true events. It’s a motion picture that was made in the most arduous of circumstances and the end result is just a fantastic achievement.”
Rentrak senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian added, “DiCaprio just seems to have an ability to draw all audiences no matter what he’s in, whether it be The Wolf of Wall Street or something like The Revenant, which is a violent, super-intense epic.”
He continued, “The Oscars are not the Box Office Awards, they’re not the people’s Choice Awards, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to have a movie with broad-based support from a general audience. It adds a certain weight to a movie to have the popular vote as well as the critical vote in terms of Oscar potential.”
Paramount’s Daddy’s Home, a comedy about a stepfather (Will Ferrell) competing with his wife’s first husband (Mark Wahlberg) for her kid’s affections, took third place with $15 million for a haul of $116.3 million since its Christmas debut.
Fourth place at the box office is Forest Features’ newcomer The Forest with $13.1 million across 2,451 locations. The thriller stars Game of Thrones’ Natalie Dormer and Taylor Kinney. The film centers on a young American woman who travels to Japan’s suicide forest to find her twin sister.
Behind The Scenes: ‘The Forest’
The Forest earned a C CinemaScore from moviegoers and a 12 percent “fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes from critics.
Rounding out the top five is Universal’s Sisters with $7.2 million, starring Amy Poehler and Tina Fey. The filmed has accumulated $73.9 million since debuting last month.
Top 10 Films at Weekend Box Office: January 8-10
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens — $41.6 million
- The Revenant — $38 million
- Daddy’s Home — $15 million
- The Forest — $13.1 million
- Sisters — $7.2 million
- The Hateful Eight — $6.4 million
- The Big Short — $6.3 million
- Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip — $5.5 million
- Joy — $4.5 million
- Concussion — $3.1 million
