Star Wars: The Force Awakensadded another $88.3 million in its third weekend, topping the previous record for a third frame by 29%. This morning’s estimate brings the film’s domestic total to $740.2 million in 17 days. While that is an amazing feat,The Forcesaw a steeper drop (-40.8%) and that leaves it short of the all-time domestic box office record. Once again, the number to beat is $760.5 million, set byAvatarin 2010, and it looks like it will takeStar Warsat least another day to reach that.
All grosses reported by Disney since New Year’s Eve (Thursday) have been estimated rather than actual, but it’s safe to say that the studio would be thrilled to claim the record if it thought it had the numbers to back it up. As it is, waiting another day or two hardly diminishes the film’s box office achievements. Worldwide,The Force Awakenshas earned $1.5 billion, though that does not include all international grosses from this weekend. At the moment the film stands at number seven in terms of global earnings – less than $6 million behindFurious 7.
Surprisingly, there are other movies playing in theatres this holiday season and a couple of them are even holding their own against the force. Most notable is Paramount’sDaddy’s Home, which claimed the number two spot with an estimated $29 million this weekend. That’s down just 25% from the comedy’s Christmas debut and brings the film’s domestic total to $93.6 million in ten days. The lastWill Ferrell/Mark Wahlbergcomedy,The Other Guys, took almost a month to pass the same mark before ending with a final domestic total of $119.2 million.
We told you yesterday thatThe Hateful Eightstarted its nationwide run a bit below expectations, but even that revised weekend target of $17 million proved too high a bar for the R-rated Western. From 2,474 locations,The Hateful Eightearned an estimated $16.2 million, or a little over half what Tarantino’sDjango Unchainedearned in its debut weekend three years ago. To be fair,Django’s first weekend did follow a Christmas Day release (a Tuesday in 2012), and its critical reception was much stronger.
SistersandAlvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip, both entering their third frames, took the fourth and fifth spots on the New Year’s chart. TheTina Fey/Amy Poehlercomedy has already surpassed the final domestic gross of their last feature film:Baby Mamafrom 2008.Sistersalso realized one of the best holds among the top ten with a decline of just over 11%. OnlyAlvin and the Chipmunksheld better at -10.2%. On the other hand, with a domestic total of $67.3 million after 17 days, the fourth installment in this G-rated series is still by far the lowest grossing of the franchise. 2011’sChipwreckedhad earned over $92 million at the same point in its run whileSqueakquelamassed an astonishing $165.3 million in 17 days beginning in 2009.
The last of the Christmas Day holdovers,JoyandPoint Break, were each down over 30% from their debuts one week ago. In the case ofDavid O Russell’sJoy, the 39% drop was steeper than expected considering the film’s generally positive reviews and Golden Globes exposure. In terms of the remake ofPoint Break, which opened with a disappointing $9.8 million last weekend, nothing short of a tsunami of international receipts will be enough to justify the film’s $105 million budget at this point.
It looked like this weekend would end up as the highest-grossing New Year’s frame of all time. The record for the holiday is $220 million, set in 2010 whenAvatarwas at the height of its powers. That was also the last time that both Christmas and New Year’s Eve fell on a Friday, so it makes for an unusually convenient comparison. In the end, this weekend fell short of the all-time record by about $5 million. A stronger showing fromThe Hateful Eightwould have bridged that gap, but I guess it’s hard to distinguish yourself withStar Warsin the mix.
Here’s this weekend’s top ten, based on studio estimates:
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
$88,300,000
Daddy’s Home
$29,000,000
The Hateful Eight
$16,240,000
$12,580,000
Alvin & the Chipmunks 4
$11,800,000
$10,400,000
The Big Short
$9,000,000
Concussion
$8,000,000
Point Break (2015)
$6,845,000
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2
$4,625,000
