‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Beats The Billion Dollar Box Office Run

The new “Star Wars” has become the fastest movie to pass the $1 billion mark in global box office sales, Disney said Sunday, as fans of the space epic pack theaters around the world. And indeed, the movie belly-flopped with $10 million, marking the second big miss of the month for the studio following “In The Heart Of The Sea”.

Paramount reunited “The Other Guys” stars Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg in the comedy “Daddy’s Home” with strong results.

That total adds to the film’s record-breaking opening weekend of $248 million, and brings its domestic gross to $544 million so far, according to figures reported by Rentrak. Fellow newcomer “Joy” follows at #3 thanks to its $17.5 million in opening weekend receipts.

Australia was the stand-out in the Asia-Pacific region, it said, with the film earning an estimated $35.7 million to date, making it the number two Disney release of all time in the country, just behind “The Avengers”.

Sony’s Will Smith NFL drama “Concussion” nabbed $11 million across 2,841 locations.

All of those movies are counting on the fact that many people are off work and school in the next week to power them to healthy box-office runs driven by positive word-of-mouth. Meanwhile, Warner Bros. pretty much gave up on “Point Break” before it even opened, canceling press screenings, and holding those critics that did manage to catch it to a Christmas Day embargo.

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.

“The Revenant”, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and directed by last year’s Oscar victor Alejandro González Iñárritu, made its debut in four theaters to $471,000. Fox released the costly movie, which was financed by New Regency Pictures and several co-financers.

Twelve days after it first hit screens, “The Force Awakens” has posted an estimated $545 million in ticket sales in North America and $546 million internationally, a statement said. “Daddy’s Home ” carries a US$50 million budget.