The sci-fi film will achieve the impossible in record time.
Story by Matt Cummings
The Force truly is with this one. At a stunning at $742.2 million domestically, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is now only $18.3m away from overtaking Avatar as the all-time top-grossing domestic film. With the third-weekend $90.24m sum, TFA took in as much money as some first-run weekend numbers.
But the Holy Grail of records - the all-time domestic winner - is the real prize. Held by some as once unbeatable, Avatar's dominance at No. 1 will likely fall sometime on Tuesday, and will do so in the shortest time ever. At just 16 days, TFA is the fastest film ever to reach the top spot; as a matter of comparison, Avatar took 72 days to do the same.
This weekend's box office was once again dominated by Episode VII, which overtook the 2nd highest-grossing release Titanic's $658.7m and Jurassic Park's $652.3m. But there were some records TFA didn't beat: the actual 2015 winner (the film actually released and finished its theatrical run) was Jurassic World at $652.27m.
But there were other films that people ended up seeing this weekend, proving that Star Wars can still thrive alongside other traditional releases. Daddy’s Home came in at No. 2 with $29.2m for a 10-day cume of $93.88m, an impressive number indeed considering the slaying it received from critics. Paramount should see this one cross the $100m threshhold by next weekend. No 3 saw The Hateful Eight shoot its way to another $29m, which was lower than Django Unchained's impressive first weekend 2012 haul of $30.1m. Without any real Oscar buzz behind it, we don't expect Hateful to hold up as January wears on.
The battle between No. 4 & No. 5 was close going into Monday, but in the end Sisters emerged with $12.76m (total cume of $61.88m), beating Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip's $12.07m and $67.6M three-weekend cume.
Still, it's clear that TFA's hold over this market continues, as it made more money than the five films after it. Again, we expect the good news about its overtaking Avatar sometime Tuesday evening.
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