Needing just 20 days to surpass $760 million what took Avatar more than 34 weeks, Stars Wars: The Force Awakens [STAR7] is now the new domestic box office champion of all times. Episode VII has dropped nearly 40% for the last two weekends. Even if it were to drop close to 50% for its fourth weekend, Stars Wars: The Force Awakens will still rule the galaxy with about $46 million.
After two weeks of limited release, The Revenant [REVEN] expands wide to 3374 theaters. Leonardo DiCaprio [LDCAP] and Tom Hardy [THARD] star in the R-rated western directed byAlejandro González Iñárritu [AGINA], who just won the Oscar for Birdman last year. Fox positioned The Revenant as its top contender for the 88th Academy Awards and has been rewarded with multiple accolades from critics and guilds. The Revenant already pulled in $1.5 million from just 4 theaters in NY/LA. The long overdue DiCaprio opened The Wolf of Wall Street to $18.4 million in 2013 and Django Unchained to $30.1 million in 2012. The Revenant looks to fall in the middle with around $23 million.
With the holidays over, Daddy’s Home [DHOME] may bring in $15 million during its third outing.
Focus/Gramercy targets young women with the PG-13 rated horror The Forest [FORST]. Natalie Dormer [NDORM] plays dual roles in the film set in a real-life suicide forest in Japan. The notoriety of the subject matter should help The Forest clear $10 million from 2451 locations.
Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight [HATE8] vastly underperformed in comparison to his last film Django Unchained. Aside from his most diehard fans, the word of mouth has been mixed. Compeittion from a better-reviewed R-rated western won’t help. The Hateful Eight may drop 45% in its second wide weekend to $9 million.
That’s the whisper from the virtual trading floor.
Tag(s): STAR7, REVEN, LDCAP, THARD, AGINA, DHOME, FORST, NDORM, HATE8
