Box Office Top 3: ‘Star Wars’ Gets Its First Real Challenge

And the news is every bit as outstanding domestically: with a gross of $812 million to date, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the first film to ever pass $800 million in the United States. If it keeps up this pace, the film could claim the top spot overall in the history of cinema (currently, number two is “Titanic” which earned $2.2 billion at the box office, and number one “Avatar” raked in $2.8 billion).

Its global total now stands at $1.73bn (£1.19bn), according to producers Walt Disney, which means it has overtaken Jurassic World, which made $1.67bn (£1.15bn).

Disney faces bigger hurdles in matching its U.S success in China and other Asian countries, where the “Star Wars” franchise isn’t as well known or have as big a following as in the West. For example, the movie didn’t open as No. 1 in South Korea or Vietnam.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens had some competition this weekend, but it won its fourth weekend at the box office.

“I can understand that someone might say, ‘Oh, it’s a complete rip-off!'” he said. “The Hateful Eight”, $6.4 million ($12 million international). 7. It’s believed that Star Wars: The Force Awakens will have to make around $100 million more than this total to come close to Avatar’s sum, and their record-breaking opening figures suggest that’s well within their reach.

Meanwhile, Focus Features’ Gramercy label introduced its new horror film “The Forest”, starring “Game of Thrones” actress Natalie Dormer, which grossed a better-than-expected $13.1 million. Leonardo DiCaprio had a strong wide release weekend as well, with an estimated $38 million for The Revenant. The film has now earned $1.73 billion globally after yet another strong weekend. The frontier survival/revenge flick also opened in nine global countries this weekend to $20.2 million, giving it a worldwide total of $59.7 million. We’ve had glimpses of some of these characters, most notably Harrison Ford returning as Han Solo in the latest teaser trailer. The Forest, $US13.1 million ($US450,000) 5.

And finally, “Daddy’s Home” brought in an estimated $15 million, showing goofy comedies can have staying power, too. Even though the first cut of Star Wars: The Force Awakens is about 170 minutes, the theatrical runtime is 136 minutes, which leaves about half-an-hour of unused footage.

Concussion rounded out the top 10 with $3 million for the weekend and a diminutive $30 million total.

Joy followed in 9 place with $4.5 million.