‘Star Wars’ earns $52 million in opening weekend in China

The battle to win the box office in North America was won once again by Star Wars: The Force Awakens for the fourth consecutive weekend beating The Revenant starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

Internationally, the film gained this weekend another $104.3 million, totaling worldwide an impressive $1.73 billion.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens comes 38 years after the Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope debuted in 1977 followed by Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983), Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999), Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002), Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005) and the current instalment.

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens”, the seventh film in the Lucasfilm franchise, has grossed $812 million so far in the USA and Canada alone, passing “Avatar’s” record of $760.5 million last week.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens got a scare in its fourth weekend, and by scare I mean it nearly got dethroned as the number one movie. As such, it was on limited release in NY and Los Angeles. The Forest, too, has not had much critical praise, but at an estimated $13.1 million on a $10 million budget, it has little ground to cover to make itself profitable, if not well received. Researcher Rentrak Corp. estimates ” Furious 7 generated $391.4 million in the country in 2015 andMonster Hunt, a Chinese fantasy movie, grossed $393.2 million.

The Big Short, the financial dramedy directed by Adam McKay, made a major push on the eve of the Golden Globes, upping its theater count from roughly 1,600 to 2,529. It went on to gross $390.9 million in China, just over a quarter of its total earnings.

The science fiction spectacle has broken at least 16 box office records in its journey to achieve glory in the United States.

George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road is the top-grosser to date in the best picture drama category, followed by Tom McCarthy’s Spotlight ($28.6-M), Todd Haynes’ Carol and Lenny Abrahamson’s Room.