Via USAtoday.com:
Star Wars: The Force Awakens started 2016 right where it left off in 2015 — total box office domination.
The seventh Star Wars cruised to a lopsided box office victory in the first, holiday weekend of 2016 with $88.3 million according to studio estimates, setting new records on a daily basis as it soared to $740 million total box office after just 19 days of release.
Over the holiday week The Force Awakens passed North American totals of massive previous hits including Titanic ($600.8 million), The Avengers ($623.4 million) and Jurassic World ($652.3 million) The next stop is the current record holder, Avatar ($760.5).
“The Force Awakens is picking off records one at a time as it explodes up the box office chart,” says Paul Dergarabedian, senior analyst for Rentrak. “And it just barely missed setting the North American record this weekend by catching Avatar. It could do that tomorrow. The speed with which it has set all these records is unprecedented.”
The J.J. Abrams-directed film continued to set records at the global box office as it passed the $1.5 billion mark, making it the number six movie of all time internationally (passing Avengers: Age of Ultron at $1.4 billion)
With $1.510 billion total, The Force Awakens will pass Furious 7 ($1.514 billion) and Avengers ($1.519 billion) shortly to take the number four spot. Avatar sits at the top of the global list with $2.7 billion.
The dominance carried over to IMAX screens worldwide which accounted for a staggering $152 million in Star Wars box office, making The Force Awakens second all-time for the large screen format behind Avatar ($243 million total), which required 47 days to reach the $150 million mark.
Without any new releases following the glut of Christmas Day openings, there were plenty of other movies making noise — even they were drowned out by Star Wars.
Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg’s comedy Daddy’s Home managed a powerful second place run, taking $29 million over the weekend for an impressive total box office of $93.7 million.
“Surprisingly, Daddy’s Home is going to be one of the biggest hits of Will Ferrell’s career. No one expected that,” says Jeff Bock, box office analyst for Exhibitor Relations. “It has turned into the big family comedy of the season.”
Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight took third place for the weekend with $16.24 million for a total of $29.6 million. The award-contending Western expanded nationally to 2,474 theaters from 100 locations.
Amy Poehler and Tina Fey’s comedy Sisters took fourth place with $12.6 million for a total of $61.7 million. The family flick Alvin and the Chipmunks: Road Chip pulled into fifth place with $11.8 million and $67.4 million total.
Final numbers are due Monday.
