‘The Revenant’ scores at box office; ‘Star Wars’ still No. 1

A record-breaking opening in China last week has made a huge contribution to the global success of Star Wars, which made $53m (£36m) in its debut weekend, described as “spectacular” by Disney’s executive vice-president Dave Hollis.

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.

Disney and Lucasfilm were hoping for a big opening in China if it was going to reach the lofty heights of James Cameron’s Avatar, which is still the biggest movie of all-time with $2.7 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).

The latest Star Wars movie has now become the third biggest grossing movie ever, worldwide.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens has broken a ton of records at the box office, but fans are looking ahead to Rogue One and Episode VIII.

When Collider asked the director how he feels about the film’s chances of winning a Best Picture Oscar, or maybe even the cast and crew getting an award nod as well, he said that the movie did so well already that he would be happy regardless if it gets recognized or not. Having the film open wide well after “Star Wars” was released gave it room to breathe, he said. That brings the space opera’s stateside haul to US$812 million, making it the first film to ever cross US$800 million domestically.

It also coincides with a steep slide for Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight”, because apparently there’s only room for one gore-filled snowy Western at the box office. The film is hardly in trouble yet; it has $41.5 million domestic, worldwide openings still to come and a budget of just $44 million. DiCaprio is up for Best Actor at Sunday night’s Golden Globes for his work in the film! Take that, bad Prequel Trilogy!

Two comedies rounded out the top five: Daddy’s Home and Sisters.

The weekend’s box-office performance is especially good news for Arnon Milchan’s entertainment company New Regency, which co-financed the $135 million production. In fact, it’s expected this will eventually gross enough money over the course of its run to become Ferrell’s second-most successful live-action comedy behind Elf, another Christmas gem (suggesting Ferrell may have a formula for holiday success, if he’s wise enough to capitalize on it).