Box office report: The Force Awakens narrowly beats The Revenant to become the third-biggest movie ever
Star Wars: The Force Awakens managed to hang on to its box office crown for the fourth weekend in a row, but just barely.
The Force Awakens secured first place as expected with an estimated $41.6 million, but Alejandro González Iñárritu’s The Revenant, which expanded from four theaters to 3,371 this weekend, opened considerably above expectations to earn $38 million.
On Friday, The Revenant actually became the first movie to unseat The Force Awakens, even if it was only for one day: The Revenant posted an estimated $14.4 million on Friday, compared to The Force Awakens’ $10.8 million. Including its two-week run in limited release, The Revenant has now made a total of $39.6 million domestically. That’s only a few million dollars short of what Iñárritu’s last film, Birdman, made during its entire theatrical run ($42.3 million). The Revenant stars Leonardo DiCaprio as the real-life fur trapper Hugh Glass, who was mauled by a bear and left for dead, and the film earned a B+ CinemaScore.
Still, The Force Awakens emerged as the eventual weekend champion, and its domestic total is now at $812 million, making it the first movie in history to cross $800 million. On a global scale, it finally opened in China on Saturday, where it earned an estimated $53 million over two days and became China’s biggest Saturday/Sunday opening ever.
In total, The Force Awakens has grossed a whopping $1.73 billion globally, just surpassing Jurassic World ($1.67 billion) to become the third-biggest global movie of all time. Earlier this week, The Force Awakens dethroned Avatar to become the biggest domestic movie in history, but it’s still more than $1 billion shy of Avatar’s worldwide total ($2.79 billion). Titanic still holds second place with $2.19 billion.
This weekend’s only truly new wide release was the horror flick The Forest, about Japan’s suicide forest, and it opened slightly above expectations to earn $13.1 million in 2,451 theaters. Starring Game of Thrones’ Natalie Dormer, The Forest earned a C CinemaScore.
Holdovers rounded out the top five, with the PG-rated comedy Daddy’s Home falling to third place with an estimated $15 million. Starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg, Daddy’s Home has grossed an estimated total of $116.3 million domestically. Sisters, which stars Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, placed fifth with an estimated $7.2 million. Its domestic total is now at $73.9 million.
Outside of the top five, Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight took a bit of a steep tumble to sixth place with $6.4 million, dropping about 60 percent — even though it added 464 theaters this weekend. Since opening on Christmas Day in a limited 70mm 100-theater run, it has grossed an estimated $41.5 million domestically.
Here are this weekend’s top five at the box office:
1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens — $41.6 million
2. The Revenant — $38 million
3. Daddy’s Home — $15 million
4. The Forest — $13.1 million
5. Sisters — $7.2 million