Star Wars: The Force Awakens will likely earn another weekend at the top of the box office, but The Revenant is giving it a surprising challenge. The Leonardo DiCaprio-starring awards contender is looking to come in a close second.
The Revenant, which was directed by Birdman’s Alejandro G. Inarritu, was initially estimated to only make at least $20 million during its first weekend in wide release. However, TheWrap notes that this number has been adjusted up to at least $35 million.
Thanks to a strong Friday, The Revenant is looking to do incredibly well. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the film earned between $14 million and $15 million, making it the first day since Dec. 18 that the top grosser wasn’t The Force Awakens.
Now that The Force Awakens has officially overtaken Avatar for the all-time biggest grossing movie in North America (unadjusted for inflation, of course), the question is how how can it go. The film will likely pass $800 million this weekend and could go past the $1.66 billion Jurassic World earned worldwide. If it does that, it will become the third-highest grossing film ever around the world, behind only Titanic and Avatar.
The Force Awakens will open in China this weekend and that is its final big test.
The only other new release of the weekend is The Forest, a horror film from Focus Features/Gramercy Pictures that stars Game of Thrones’ Natalie Dormer. The movie is only expected to make around $11 million.