The force is with Disney. The studio chalked up a staggering $7 billion at the box office across 2016, and heading into the New Year, they show no signs of slowing down as audiences continue to flock to their movies.
For the third straight week, “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” has topped the box office, hauling in $49.5 million across New Year’s weekend. The film is now at $790 million worldwide, and breaking the billion dollar barrier is looking more and more likely with each passing day. Early estimates had the movie finishing at $1.3 billion once all is said and done, and while that remains to be seen, it’s worth remembering that “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” stayed in cinemas well into the spring of 2016, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a similarly lengthy run for ‘Rogue One.’ At any rate, Disney is plenty pleased with the results here.
With no other major releases opening last week, there’s not much else to note. The animated “Sing” continued to rake it in, adding another $42.8 million to the bottom line. “Assassin’s Creed” is tumbling hard, landing at number eight, and while it might stick around the top ten this week only because there isn’t much in the way of competition coming, it probably won’t cross $60 million domestic by the time things wrap up, which is pretty ugly for such an expensive production that was supposed to start a franchise.
In terms of Oscar movies, “La La Land” continues to shine, with the Best Picture frontrunner adding another $9.5 million this past weekend in less than a thousand cinemas, and still maintaining terrific per-screen averages. The Weinstein Company are likely happy to see “Lion” coming back a bit with $2.5 million, as they hope it stays in the awards conversation.
At the arthouse, both “20th Century Women” and “Paterson” launched in less than a half-dozen cinemas each, with the Mike Mills movie earning $112,705 and Jim Jarmusch‘s pic totalling $69,334.
1. “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” — $49.5 million ($424.9 mil.)
2. “Sing” — $42.8 million ($166.4 mil.)
3. “Passengers” — $16.1 million ($61.4 mil.)
4. “Moana” — $10.9 million ($210 mil.)
5. “Why Him?” — $10.6 million ($34.6 mil.)
6. “Fences” — $10 million ($29.7 mil.)
7. “La La Land” — $9.5 million ($34.2 mil.)
8. “Assassin’s Creed” — $8.6 million ($39.6 mil.)
9. “Manchester By The Sea” — $4.2 million ($28.4 mil.)
10. “Collateral Beauty” — $4.1 million ($25.7 mil.)