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Box Office Weekend: Star Wars Blasts Box Office Records

Seth Paul
Box Office Weekend

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 Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens Posterof $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)

  1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens…$238 million
  2. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip…$14.4 million
  3. Sisters…$13.4 million
  4. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2…$5.7 million
  5. Creed…$5.1 million
  6. The Good Dinosaur…$4.2 million
  7. Krampus…$3.8 million
  8. In the Heart of the Sea…$3.5 million
  9. Dilwale…$1.9 million
  10. Bajirao Mastani…$1.7 million

Seth Paul

When not failing to write novels and screenplays, box-office guru Seth writes humorous comedy tracks for films under the name "The One Man Band" that can be found at Rifftrax.com. Although, he has recently succeeded in writing the novella "Jack Alan and the Case of the Not-Exactly Rocket Scientists," available as an eBook on Amazon. He is also the English voice of Zak in "Zak McKracken: Between Time and Space."
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