The Force Awakens amassed 88 million for the third biggest domestic weekend ever, launching its domestic total to 740 million. It passed Titanic and Jurassic World this last week and is the fastest to hit the 700 million mark, and only the second movie to do so. It will topple Avatar tomorrow to become the biggest domestic movie of all time, unadjusted for inflation of course. I honestly would prefer it if we recorded box office numbers the way France does, in terms of pure tickets sold, because when you hear exaggerated numbers like this, it's still incredibly misleading. This movie has NOT sold anywhere near the amount of tickets films like Titanic did back in the day, or the original Star Wars, for example. Should we continue to gawk at these numbers even if they don't actually compare to massive hits of the past? Doesn't seem right to me.
Anyway, the holdover success in other areas went to Daddy's Home, which is a huge hit for Will Ferrell, despite the poor reviews, and is close to crossing 100 million. The Hateful Eight expanded wide this weekend, after a sterling opening in limited, but pulled in 16 million, on the lower end for a Tarantino film. It also earned a B Cinemascore, so we'll see if that one holds up well or not. Sisters and the Chipmunks movie rounded out the top five, as last week's Joy saw the steepest drop in the top ten.
Top 5:
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens- 88.3 million
- Daddy's Home- 29 million
- The Hateful Eight- 16.2 million
- Sisters- 12.6 million
- Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip- 11.8 million
January is traditionally the worst month of the year for new releases, since it's basically reserved for boosting the success of the Oscar movies, with nominations set to be announced a week from Thursday. So far, Spotlight and Brooklyn continue to be the highest grossers on the indie circuit, having earned 27 and 20 million, respectively. Spotlight can probably boost that gross to at least 50 million, especially if it has the Oscar success many are predicting for it. Next week it's the horror movie The Forest, while The Revenant goes wide in expectation for an awards boost to come.
