There are a lot of words that could be used to describe the massive box office of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," but the one that most readily applies is: unprecedented. There has simply been nothing like J.J. Abrams‘ movie in cinematic history, and Christmas weekend couldn’t stop ‘Star Wars’ from unleashing the force at the multiplex, breaking more records in the process.
After earning the biggest global and domestic opening weekend box office of all time, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" smashed second weekend records, hauling in $153.2 million at home, bringing the domestic tally to $544.5 million. When added to the tally of $546 million internationally, it brings everything to a grand total of $1.09 billion in twelve days of release, a new record. The film has also the fastest to cross the $100, $200, $300, $400, and $500 million marks domestically, and is now $100 million shy of beating "Jurassic World" as the biggest movie of 2015 at home. So how big will "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" get? Heading into New Year’s Day with nothing to stop it, the sky’s the limit.
But it wasn’t only the ‘Star Wars’ gang getting some pleasant holiday surprises at the box office. Critics couldn’t stop the poorly reviewed "Daddy’s Home" from becoming Will Ferrell‘s second best live-action debut ever. Earning a few million more than "The Other Guys" did in its opening frame, and about ten million less than "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby," Ferrell rebounded nicely from the dud, "Get Hard," earlier this year, and a B+ Cinemascore indicates it could quietly rack up some solid coin.
David O. Russell also had a reason to celebrate as "Joy" earned $17.5 million, a career high for the director, but with the caveat being this is only his second movie ever to open in wide release. However, a B+ Cinemascore combined with the star power of Jennifer Lawrence could see this sticking around.
Quentin Tarantino‘s "The Hateful Eight" did very well in limited release, with the 70mm roadshow hauling in $4.5 million from 100 screens, for a very strong $45,366 per screen average. It’s all the more impressive considering it’s a three-hour-plus western. It will be interesting to see how the leak of the film will help or hurt when it goes wide next weekend on 1,800 screens, but certainly, the faithful showed up.
Movies that earned a lump of coal include Will Smith‘s "Concussion." With a paltry $11 million, it’s the actor’s worst opening weekend of his career, and it’ll be lucky to hit $30 million domestic by time the run ends. Meanwhile, Warner Bros. pretty much gave up on "Point Break" before it even opened, canceling press screenings, and holding those critics that did manage to catch it to a Christmas Day embargo. And indeed, the movie belly-flopped with $10 million, marking the second big miss of the month for the studio following "In The Heart Of The Sea."
Meanwhile, "The Big Short" confidently expanded into wide release with $10.5 million, with Paramount‘s platform strategy for the movie working quite nicely; while "Sisters" quietly held strong, pretty much showing a 0% drop in its second weekend.
In limited release, Alejandro Innaritu’s “The Revenant” from 20th Century Fox scored a massive $471,000 from four screens. That’s the second highest per screen average of 2015 behind “Steve Jobs” and in the top 10 of indie release per screen average records. Considering that Leonardo DiCaprio‘s leading the film and and the movie’s earning raves among the late-season award circuit, it’s surely going going to pop big when it hits in wide release. Sundance Selects‘ "45 Years" was off to a great start too; $69,300 from three screens for a $23,100 PSA. Lastly, The Weinstein Company’‘s "Carol" expanded into 180 theaters w/ $$1,070,000 for a solid, but not amazing $5,944 PSA.
1. “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” — $153.5 million ($544.5 mil)
2. “Daddy’s Home” — $38.3 million
3. “Joy” — $17.5 million
4. “Sisters” — $13.8 million ($37.1 mil.)
5. “Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Road Chip” — $12.7 million ($39.3 mil.)
6. “Concussion” — $11 million
7. “The Big Short” — $10.5 million ($16 mil.)
8. “Point Break” — $10 million
9. “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2” — $5.3 million ($264.6 mil.)
10. “Creed” — $4.6 million ($96.3 mil.)
