The force was strong with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story as it delivered the third largest opening of 2016 with $155 million. It also became the second film released in December to deliver an opening of over $100 million only behind last year’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens which had a monster opening of $248 million.
Rogue One is already the 15th highest grossing movie of 2016 after just three days reports Box Office Mojo. It will be tough for the film to maintain its success considering all of the new releases coming out. However, I still predict that Rogue One will remain in first place next weekend.
Disney also took second place this week as Moana brought in $11.6 million raising its total domestic gross to just under $162 million. Office Christmas Party dropped to third place with $8.5 million and is sitting just over $30 million domestically.
The other wide release of the weekend Collateral Beauty had a very weak opening. It opened in fourth place and only brought in $7 million, the worst opening for a Will Smith film. I predict this film will quickly drop from the top 10.
Fantastic Beasts rounds out the top five with $5 million and is now sitting at $207 million domestically after 31 days. Oscar contenders Manchester by the Sea and La La Land finished in the top 10 with Manchester bringing in $4.1 million just ahead of La La Land’s $4 million. The highest grossing move in the top 10 is Doctor Strange which brought in $2 million and now has grossed $226 million after 45 days.
We have a total of five new wide releases coming during the next week starting with three on Wednesday including the new sci-fi thriller Passengers starring Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence. The holiday comedy Why Him? starring Bryan Cranston and James Franco opens this Friday and the Denzel Washington drama Fences expands to wide release on Christmas Day.
Weekend Gross by Distributor:
Disney: $168.7 million (+145.2 percent)
Paramount Pictures: $12.6 million (-14.7 percent)
Warner Bros.: $12 million (-0.8 percent)
Lionsgate: $5 million (-1.7 percent)
Roadside Attractions: $4.2 million (+1 percent)
Focus Features: $1.6 million (-2.2 percent)
20th Century Fox: $1.3 million (-1.8 percent)
Next week’s openings: Assassin’s Creed, Passengers, Sing, Why Him?, Fences