‘Star Wars’ the fastest to earn $1 billion at box office

The Force Awakens” has reached $1 billion at the box office, achieving the milestone with record-setting hyper speed. The blockbuster also blew past 2009’s Sherlock Holmes to amass the biggest Christmas Day gross of all time with $49.3 million. Domestically, “The Force Awakens” has grossed a mammoth $544.6 million. And how much of the $1 billion came from you? Did the “Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens” live up to your expectations?

Among the new releases over the weekend, the one that did the best was “Daddy’s Home” from Viacom Inc.’s Paramount Pictures, which opened with sales of $US38.8 million to place second.

Directed by Sean Anders, the $50 million movie stars Ferrell as a mild-mannered man trying to compete for the affections of his stepchildren after the arrival of their freewheeling biological father, played by Wahlberg.

In third with $17.5 million was another premiere, “Joy”, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper. It is expected to be a leading Oscar contender. It takes #7 on the strength of its $10.5 million in weekend receipts. The Chinese-American co-production will look overseas for salvation. In other words, Disney movies have helped make the company more than $2 billion this year. Alcon Entertainment and DMG Entertainment financed “Point Break”. “Concussion, ” the Will Smith-NFL drama, took in $11 million, good for sixth place, followed by the financial-crisis saga “The Big Short, ” which collected $10.5 million.

The former, which stars Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, added another United States dollars 13.88 million in its second weekend. And the fifth was “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip”, with 12.7 million dollars in ticket earnings. “It’s bigger than we thought it would be”.

Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight” did very well in limited release, with the 70mm roadshow hauling in $4.5 million from 100 screens, for a very strong $45,366 per screen average.