In this second weekend of the new year, Star Wars: The Force Awakens continued to dominate the charts and break records. This week, it passed Avatar to become the highest-grossing film ever in North America — and it also becomes (in only its third weekend) the first film ever to cross $800 million at the domestic box office. This is a true phenomenon, my friends.
Coming at #2 this weekend, was The Revenant, which expanded nationwide after two impressive weeks in limited release. The new release from Oscar winner Alejandro G. Iñárritu, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio in his most physically punishing role, greatly exceeded all expectations. With major wins at tonight’s Golden Globe Awards and expected to reap a number of Oscar nominations this Thursday, the film looks to be in great shape and should continue to rake in the money.
The Will Ferrell-Mark Wahlberg comedy Daddy’s Home came in at #3 in its third week, crossing $100 million in the process. Not bad at all for a film with such scathing reviews.
The week’s sole new release, The Forest, opened reasonably well at #4, but don’t be surprised if this drops off really fast. The film did disastrously with critics (just 11% on Rotten Tomatoes!) and must endure a very crowded landscape of expanding award-season movies and the complete dominance of Star Wars. I saw The Forest yesterday — it’s not as bad as they’re saying, but also not as scary as it ought to be.
Sisters, starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, slipped to #5 and might be within reach of $100 million. The Hateful Eight, meanwhile, fell to #6, a financial disappointment after Tarantino’s last two smashes. Oscar hopeful The Big Short was flat at #7.
The latest Alvin and the Chipmunks sequel dropped to #5, and hopefully this will be its last appearance in the Top Ten. Joy dropped three spots to #9, though perhaps star Jennifer Lawrence’s Golden Globes win tonight might draw new eyeballs to David O. Russell’s floundering film. Finally, the Will Smith-starring Concussion ended the weekend at #10.
All in all, it was a decent weekend at the movies. Next week should be interesting, however — what impact will the Golden Globes and Thursday’s Oscar nominations have on box office? Stay tuned.
| TW | LW | Title | Gross (est.) | Cumulative (est.) | Weeks in Release |
| 1 | 1 | Star Wars: The Force Awakens | $41,630,000 | $812,011,043 | 4 |
| 2 | 23 | The Revenant | $38,000,000 | $39,556,901 | 3 |
| 3 | 2 | Daddy’s Home | $15,000,000 | $116,313,576 | 3 |
| 4 | N | The Forest | $13,088,000 | $13,088,000 | 1 |
| 5 | 4 | Sisters | $7,170,000 | $74,879,945 | 4 |
| 6 | 3 | The Hateful Eight | $6,351,000 | $41,473,820 | 3 |
| 7 | 7 | The Big Short | $6,300,000 | $42,849,837 | 5 |
| 8 | 5 | Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip | $5,500,000 | $75,608,339 | 4 |
| 9 | 6 | Joy | $4,500,000 | $46,555,608 | 3 |
| 10 | 8 | Concussion | $3,050,000 | $30,968,278 | 3 |
Source: Box Office Mojo
What did you see this weekend?
