The Force Awakens managed to open above all expectations, and shattered the record for highest opening weekend of all time, that Jurassic World just set a few months ago. Disney is reporting 238M for the weekend, but some believe it might even go higher, possibly as high as 245M. We shall see. Star Wars did get an A cinemascore this weekend, meaning that audiences enjoyed it as much as critics did. Even over at the divisive IMDB, it has an 8.8 rating, putting it at #21 on the IMDB Top 250.
Star Wars wasn’t the only film that opened this weekend. Alvin and the Chipmunks: Road Chip managed 2nd place, even if the debut was the lowest in the franchise. Audiences gave it an A-, which surprises me. Audiences weren’t that crazy about Sisters, giving it only a B, and it landed in third place. The Tina Fey/Amy Poehler film will struggle in the coming weeks with more releases opening on Christmas.
Two Bollywood films landed in the Top 10 too, but those typically fade fast, especially with them splitting the audience. Next weekend, Concussion, Daddy’s Home, Point Break, Joy, and The Big Short go wide and hope to take a large chunk of the audience each. The Revenant and The Hateful Eight both open in limited release. With all of those new releases opening, look for a lot of holdovers to disappear. Spectre currently has over 1200 screens, and will likely lose half of those next week, as will The Night Before. In The Heart Of The Sea will probably see the biggest drop, as it is in over 3,000 screens, yet is only in 8th place. Hunger Games also will shed some screens, as will The Good Dinosaur, Krampus, and Creed. Most major theatres won’t be able to play anything except a tiny handful of holdovers, as most of their screens will be comprised of the five new wide releases, Star Wars, Alvin, and Sisters.
1) Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens- 238M Weekend, 238M Total
2) Alvin and the Chipmunks: Road Chip- 14.4M Weekend, 14.4M Total
3) Sisters- 13.4M Weekend, 13.4M Total
4) The Hunger Games: Mockingjay pt 2- 5.6M Weekend, 254.4M Total
5) Creed- 5.1M Weekend, 87.9M Total
6) The Good Dinosaur- 4.2M Weekend, 96.5M Total
7) Krampus- 3.7M Weekend, 34.8M Total
8) In The Heart Of The Sea- 3.5M Weekend, 18.6M Total
9) Diwale- 1.9M Weekend, 1.9M Total
10) Bajirao Mastani- 1.7M Weekend, 1.7M Total
11) Spotlight- 1.4M Weekend, 22.9M Total
12) Spectre- 1.4M Weekend, 193.9M Total
13) Brooklyn-1.2M Weekend, 16.5M Total
14) The Night Before- 1.1M Weekend, 41.4M Total
15) The Danish Girl- 538K Weekend, 1.3M Total
16) Peanuts- 535K Weekend, 126.3M Total
17) The Martian- 465K Weekend, 223.8M Total
18) Trumbo- 385K Weekend, 6.2M Total
19) The Big Short- 350K Weekend, 1.2M Total
20) Love The Coopers- 295K Weekend, 25.4M Total
21) Youth- 247K Weekend, 516K Total
22) Carol- 229K Weekend, 1.6M Total
23) Bridge Of Spies- 226K Weekend, 69M Total
24) Room- 173K Weekend, 4.5M Total
25) Macbeth- 136K Weekend, 653K Total
26) Legend- 128K Weekend, 1.7M Total
27) Chi-Raq- 114K Weekend, 2.4M Total
28) Sicario- 68K Weekend, 46.5M Total
29) Son Of Saul- 38K Weekend, 38K Total
