The Force Awakens, which currently has an outstanding critical rating of 95% positive on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes to go along with an “A” CInemaScore from opening weekend audiences, appears poised to break even more records, but the list of records the film has already shattered is lengthy and includes, to name a few, not already mentioned: “Largest Thursday Previews” ($57 million), “Largest Opening Day” (also largest Friday ever--$120.5 million), “Highest Per-Theater Average for a Wide Opening” ($57,571 per venue), “Top December Domestic Debut” (heck, Friday’s take alone was way more than The Hobbit’s previous Dec. opening record of $84.6 million), “Fastest to $100 million Ever” (1 day, actually 19 hours); plus both the biggest ever “Global IMAX Opening” $48 million and biggest ever “Domestic IMAX Bow” ($30.1 million).
The Force Awakens has been clearly identified as an “event” film, the question now is how big an “event” will this be? At the top end of the speculation, the new Star Wars film will not only pass Jurassic World’s 2015-leading total, it will challenge Avatar’s domestic record of $760.5 million. The upcoming holidays, and the franchise’s past history of hardcore fans going for repeat viewings argue in favor of topping Jurassic World, but it should be remembered that Jurassic World’s opening worldwide weekend take was $534 million worldwide (though Jurassic World had the advantage of opening in China, while The Force Awakens won’t debut there until January 8). The Force Awakens will face considerable competition in the coming weeks thanks to the debuts of Joy, The Big Short, Concussion, Point Break, Daddy’s Home, The Hateful Eight, The Revenant, and Kung Fu Panda (to name just some of the high profile releases before the end of the year), so the odds are against The Force Awakens topping Avatar now, but the next few weeks should tell. Still, whether it tops Avatar or not, The Force Awakens is already a major hit.
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Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): December 18-20, 2015 |
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|
Film |
Weekend Gross |
Screens |
Avg./Screen |
Total Gross |
Wk# |
|
|
1 |
Star Wars: The Force Awakens |
$238,000,000 |
4,134 |
$57,571 |
$238,000,000 |
1 |
|
2 |
Alvin and the Chipmunks The Road Chip |
$14,400,000 |
3,653 |
$3,942 |
$14,400,000 |
1 |
|
3 |
Sisters |
$13,420,000 |
2,962 |
$4,531 |
$13,420,000 |
1 |
|
4 |
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 |
$5,650,000 |
2,653 |
$2,130 |
$254,438,774 |
5 |
|
5 |
Creed |
$5,085,000 |
2,433 |
$2,090 |
$87,900,073 |
4 |
|
6 |
The Good Dinosaur |
$4,232,000 |
2,755 |
$1,536 |
$96,546,068 |
4 |
|
7 |
Krampus |
$3,780,000 |
2,371 |
$1,594 |
$34,810,655 |
3 |
|
8 |
In the Heart of the Sea |
$3,465,000 |
3,103 |
$1,117 |
$18,600,095 |
2 |
|
9 |
Dilwale |
$1,875,000 |
268 |
$6,996 |
$1,875,000 |
1 |
|
10 |
Bajirao Mastani |
$1,660,000 |
304 |
$5,461 |
$1,660,000 |
1 |
The opening weekend audience for The Force Awakens skewed male (58%), and was pretty well-balanced across the demographic groups with 17% under 16, 20% 17-25, 24% 34-49, and 13% over 50. Caucasians accounted for 62% of the crowd, followed by Hispanics (15%), African-Americans (10%), and Asians (7%). 3-D screenings accounted for 47% of the revenue (12% of that total came from IMAX).
With The Force Awakens accounting for nearly 80 cents of every dollar spent on the movies in North America this weekend, there wasn’t a lot left over for other films. Second place went to Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip, which earned an estimated $14.4 million, the worst debut in franchise history (the previous film bowed with $23 million), but The Road Chip will face little in the way of competition for the kiddie market in the coming weeks and could make up some lost ground.
Likewise, the R-rated comedy Sisters, starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, which debuted to $13.2 million, should still be able to pull off a long run, if audiences respond a little better. Sisters’ “B-“ CinemaScore from an opening weekend audience that was 76% female, is troubling, since word-of-mouth matters a lot for comedies.
The holdovers took it on the chin, with only the boxing drama Creed (down 49.8%) avoiding a more than 50% drop. Ron Howard’s 19th Century whaling epic In the Heart of the Sea got hit the hardest, plummeting 68.7% and falling from second place to eighth.
That’s it for now, but be sure to check back here next week when we should have a better read on how big of a “monster hit” The Force Awakens will become. Plus a trio of new films will debut including, Joy, which stars Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, the Will Smith-starring NFL expose Concussion, and the extreme sports/caper film/remake Point Break.
