The first weekend of 2016 had Star Wars shattering the third weekend record while Daddy's Home, Sisters, and Chipmunks served as solid counter-programming. The only new wide release is the expansion of The Hateful Eight, which opened on the low side for Mr. Tarantino.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens stayed firmly in first with $90.2 million (-39.5%). Avatar had the largest third outing on this exact weekend in 2010 when it fell a mere 9.4% to make $68.4 million. The Force Awakens topped that by almost $22 million - that sum would make for the 14th best third weekend of all time. Avatar holds the fourth weekend record with $50.3 million, so The Force Awakens will have to drop about 44.2% to hit that. While that drop may be possible (you have to imagine the dorks fans have already gotten their fourth or fifth viewings out of the way by now), I can't imagine Force Awakens dropping any more than that. It will easily hold on to first place next weekend, and may take that fourth weekend record from Avatar as well.
The film has made an astounding $742.8 million in 17 days - averaging about $43.7 million a day - which makes it the second highest grossing film domestically. In a couple of days it will top Avatar ($760.5 million) to become number one. Poor James Cameron will finally be dethroned since Titanic took the crown in 1998.
Foreign markets brought $770.5 million to the flick with the U.K. ($133.5 million), Germany ($73.9 million), and France ($61.4 million) as the top three markets. Force Awakens comes to China on the 9th, where those grosses will determine whether the film passes Titanic's $2.1 billion worldwide sum. Jurassic World ($1.66 billion) won't hold on to third through next week, and, with $1.51 billion in three weeks of worldwide release, The Force Awakens "only" needs about $674 million to beat Titanic in second. The Force Awakens needs over $1.275 billion to top Avatar so James Cameron gets to keep that record for the unforseeable future.
Daddy's Home stayed unmatched in second with $29.2 million (-24.6%). The $50 million PG-13 comedy has racked up a terrific $93.8 million domestically in 10 days. Comedy competition doesn't come into play until Ride Along 2 on the 15th, leaving plenty of time for Daddy's Home to dominate. The film has grossed $116.3 million worldwide, and has plenty more foreign territories to reach on top of that.
The Hateful Eight broke out from its 100-theater 70mm exclusive roadshow event into 1,958 theaters on Wednesday and 2,474 theaters on Friday to take in $15.7 million (+240.7%) for the weekend. That falls behind 2003's Kill Bill Vol. 1 ($22 million) to make for Tarantino's fifth largest opening. In 10 days, its domestic total stands at $29 million. The film is set to top its $44 million budget domestically with foreign markets coming through this month as well. Potential Oscar nominations for Screenplay (Tarantino), Supporting Actress (Jennifer Jason Leigh), and, less likely, Best Picture await next Thursday too, so, even though it won't be Tarantino's biggest hit, it will certainly secure funding for his ninth film.
Sisters remained in fourth with $12.7 million (-10.1%). The Tina Fey-Amy Poehler comedy hasn't lost much of its $13.9 million opening weekend in its three weeks of release. The $30 million film has grossed $62.8 million domestically and an additional $4.3 million from a few foreign markets with many more of those on the way. At this point, it's just icing on the cake for Universal.
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip secured fifth place yet again with $12 million (-8.2%). In 17 days, the Chipmunks have made $67.6 million domestically and $24.5 million from a few foreign markets. The $90 million children's film will hit many more foreign territories throughout January and February which will probably give the greenlight to a fifth Alvin and the Chipmunks film.
Joy landed in sixth with $10.2 million (-40.0%). That's a sharp drop for this popular movie-going weekend if your name isn't Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The Jennifer Lawrence dramedy has grossed $38.5 million domestically in 10 days. Covering the $60 million budget shouldn't be a problem once foreign markets come in this month, but the movie has no chance of reaching the heights of David O. Russell's past few films (American Hustle and Silver Linings Playbook both exceeded $230 million worldwide). So far, Joy has amassed $51.3 million worldwide.
The Big Short fell from sixth to seventh in its second weekend of wide release with $9 million (-14.0%). Its $28 million budget has been eclipsed by its $33 million domestic total, and foreign markets and Oscar buzz should help cover the rest.
Concussion landed in eighth with $7.8 million (-25.4%). With only $25.2 million so far, foreign markets will have to help cover that $35 million budget. Will Smith's star power should help with that.
Point Break placed in ninth with an estimated $6.8 million (-30.2%). There's a $105 million budget to cover and only $22.4 million domestically and $57.8 million from foreign markets. More of them are on the way, but $80.2 million is miles away from covering a $105 million budget. Between this and the Chris Hemsworth whale flop, the only good news for Warner Bros. this month is that Creed surpassed $100 million domestic.
Finally, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 finished in tenth with $4.6 million (-12.5%). The second Jennifer Lawrence flick in the top ten has grossed $274.1 million domestically and $635.8 million worldwide. It's a low point for the franchise, but I doubt anybody is complaining too much over at Lionsgate. After all, the four Hunger Games films made the franchise the 15th highest-grossing of all time with over $2.9 billion worldwide.
Next weekend sees the release of The Forest and The Masked Saint as well as The Revenant expand to over 3,000 theaters.
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