'Rogue One' Remains Leader In 4th Week, 'Hidden Figures' Soars In Wide Release, 'Underworld: Blood Wars' Tanks [Box Office]

The first weekend in January usually means two things: Holdover hits from December stay strong; while Hollywood dumps the titles they know have little to offer, or expand their awards-season titles. And this has allowed the force to stay strong with Disney.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” kept a grip on the top spot at the box office for its fourth straight week. The film tallied another $21.9 million domestically, but all eyes were overseas as the movie continues to hurtle toward the $1 billion-worldwide mark. The “Star Wars” spinoff launched in China, where it earned $31 million this weekend, just under half of the $76 million in international ticket sales the movie totaled this weekend. It’s a good pace behind the $52 million haul “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” earned in its launch in the country last year, but then again, ‘Force Awakens’ was a total phenomenon and ‘Rogue One’ isn’t headed to $2 billion worldwide either, so it seems about on the same pace. The film is currently sitting at $914 million worldwide, with the billion-dollar barrier looming in the foreseeable future.

Some stats to keep note of: “Rogue One” will soon pass “Finding Dory” to become the #1 grossing film of 2016 at home. Currently this ‘Star Wars’ spin-off is 2016’s fifth highest grossing film worldwide and at this pace it should easily hit at least the #2 slot. Its real challenge will be surpassing the $1.15 billion ‘Captain America 3’ earned early last year. It’s very doable so far; at four weeks of release, ‘Rogue One’ is pacing nearly $100 million ahead of where ‘Civil War’ was at the same time frame. In North America, ‘Rogue One’ has just surpassed ‘The Phantom Menace’ and is the eighth highest grossing film ever so far. Worldwide, the Gareth Edwards-directed picture has cracked the top 40 and rising. Impressive stats for sure and with a certified $1 billion coming, Lucasfilm should feel emboldened about their decision to take big risks with the movie.

READ MORE: The Best & Worst of ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’

However, the real story this week is “Hidden Figures.” The feel-good drama expanded into wide release and did terrific numbers, nearly knocking ‘Rogue One’ out of first place with $21.8 million. This is great momentum for 20th Century Fox, with the film headed into Golden Globes weekend with nominations for Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Score. And if the Oscar nominations are kind to the movie in a couple of weeks, this one could be sticking around the multiplex for a while.

Indicating that hopefully the franchise is finally dead and we can all get on with our lives, “Underworld: Blood Wars” (which didn’t screen for critics) flopped on over 3,000 screens with a measly $13.1 million. No entry in the series has ever debuted to less than $20 million, and it’s clear that audiences are done with this. Consider it cooked…or is it? The movie did gangbusters overseas, tallying another $42 million, bringing this weekend’s total for the movie to $55 million. The budget? $35 million. So maybe this franchise will live on to see another day.

While we’re talking international box office, Matt Damon‘s “The Great Wall” is doing huge in China, already nearing $200 million, and it hasn’t really opened anywhere else yet. Just remember that when it lands stateside next month.

That’s the tale of the tape this week, though here’s a random factoid: “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” is still playing in over 100 theaters. Huh.

1. “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” — $21.9 million ($477.2 mil.)
2. “Hidden Figures” — $21.8 million ($24.7 mil.)
3. “Sing” — $19.5 million ($213.3 mil.)
4. “Underworld: Blood Wars” — $13.1 million
5. “La La Land” — $10 million ($51.6 mil.)
6. “Passengers” — $8.8 million ($80.8 mil.)
7. “Why Him?” — $6.5 million ($48.5 mil.)
8. “Moana” — $6.4 million ($225.3 mil.)
9. “Fences” — $4.7 million ($40.6 mil.)
10. “Assassin’s Creed” — $3.8 million ($49.5 mil.)