Box Office Weekend: Star Wars Blasts Box Office Records
With all the hype surrounding it and (the critical praise lavished upon it), is it any wonder Star Wars: The Force Awakens would do anything but succeed? Well, it did, and then some, with the best opening weekend in history with an estimated $238 million. No debut had a chance against it, even with the other big debuts trying to appeal to different audiences. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip failed to wow anyone, let alone critics, with a second-place estimate of $14.4 million. Sisters, with the comedic pairing of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler did well enough with critics, but its estimated $13.4 million is a far cry from making back its $30 million budget.
With The Force Awakens making its presence felt, nothing else even broke $10 million in revenue…in fact, barely anything broke $5 million. Not to worry for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, which added an estimated $5.7 million to its pockets, but it did end up needing those foreign box office dollars, with a production budget of $160 million making it much more of a domestic disappointment than originally believed. Creed, with an estimated $5.1 million, is comparatively a success, bringing in $87.9 million over a $35 million budget. No budget numbers exists as of yet for The Good Dinosaur, but after an estimated $4.2 million added up to $96.5 million in domestic gross, chances are hopes were higher for the latest Pixar effort.
Krampus became a minor success as its estimated $3.8 million brought it to $34.8 million in domestic gross, ahead of $15 million in costs. In the Heart of the Sea, on the other hand, took a massive tumble; with an estimated $3.5 million weekend, the sea epic has made $18.6 million in total domestic gross. Even with an unknown budget (and a much better performance in overseas markets), the chances of the epic being little more than a whale-sized flop are mounting with each succeeding week.
Two other debuts came in ninth and tenth in limited release…Dilwale, a Bollywood action-romance, made the list with an estimated $1.9 million, while Bajirao Mastani, a Bollywood action-romance period piece, made an estimated $1.7 million.
Weekend Box Office (December 18th – December 20th)
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens…$238 million
- Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip…$14.4 million
- Sisters…$13.4 million
- The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2…$5.7 million
- Creed…$5.1 million
- The Good Dinosaur…$4.2 million
- Krampus…$3.8 million
- In the Heart of the Sea…$3.5 million
- Dilwale…$1.9 million
- Bajirao Mastani…$1.7 million
Seth Paul
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