Star Wars: The Force Awakens showed few signs of flagging over Christmas weekend, barrelling past the $1 billion mark globally at a faster clip than any film in history.
It’s becoming old hat to recount the various ways that the seventh film in the science-fiction fantasy is vapourising records, but, familiar or not, The Force Awakens once again ground down high-water marks over the holidays, racking up $153.5 million domestically.
That represents both the biggest Christmas holiday result and the best second weekend for a film in history. Domestically, The Force Awakens has grossed a mammoth $544.6 million. Worldwide that figure is nearly $1.1 billion.
The three-day holiday frame should also rank as biggest Christmas weekend overall in history beating the $269.8 million in 2009, which saw the launch of Sherlock Holmes and the second weekend of Avatar, the box office titan that The Force Awakens hopes to surpass as the highest-grossing film in history.
Despite the furore surrounding the return of the Jedi, a few films managed to score with Yuletide ticket buyers.
Paramount reunited The Other Guys stars Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg in the comedy Daddy’s Home with strong results, coming in second with a strong $35 million from 3,271 theatres. That was far above projections. Daddy’s Home carries a $50 million budget.
The biggest Christmas holiday result and the best second weekend for a film in history
Fox also scored with Joy, which earned $17.5 million from 2,896 theatres. It is expected to be a leading Oscar contender. But Point Break, a remake of the 1991 Kathryn Bigelow cult favourite, wiped out. The $105 million action flick eked out $10.2 million from 2,910 venues. The Chinese-American co-production will look abroad for salvation. It has earned a solid $40 million in China, where it opened on December 3. Warner Bros, which has had a horrific year at the box office, can at least content itself with the fact that it’s only a gun for hire on this one. Alcon Entertainment and DMG Entertainment financed Point Break.
Sony’s Will Smith NFL drama Concussion nabbed $11 million across 2,841 locations. L Star Capital and Village Roadshow co-financed Concussion, which has a $35 million budget.
In its second weekend of release, Universal’s Sisters barely dropped from its debut, picking up $13.9 million to drive the Tina Fey and Amy Poehler comedy’s North American haul to $37.2 million. Fox’s Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip also showed some endurance, adding $12.7 million to its $39.4 million domestic gross.
In limited release, the Weinstein Company’s 70mm ‘road show’ version of The Hateful Eight racked up a sturdy $4.6 million from 100 locations for a $45,365 per-screen average.
Fox’s The Revenant also did well in a handful of theatres. The blood-drenched revenge epic picked up $471,000 from four locations, for a per-screen average of $117,750. That’s the second best average of the year, behind only Steve Jobs with $130,381.
But The Revenant will need to resonate with mainstream crowds if it hopes to recoup its $135 million budget – something Steve Jobs failed to do. Leonardo DiCaprio stars in the film as a wilderness guide abandoned by his colleagues after a savage bear attack.