Tags
Star Wars: The Force Awakens showed few signs of flagging over Christmas weekend, barrelling past the $1bn mark globally at a faster clip than any film in history, according to a report in Variety.com.
It's becoming old hat to recount the various ways that the seventh film in the science-fiction fantasy is vapourising records, but, familiar or not, The Force Awakens once again ground down high-water marks over the holidays, racking up $153.5mn domestically.
That represents both the biggest Christmas holiday result and the best second weekend for a film in history. Domestically, The Force Awakens has grossed a mammoth $544.6mn. Worldwide that figure is nearly $1.1bn.
The three-day holiday frame should also rank as biggest Christmas weekend overall in history beating the $269.8mn in 2009, which saw the launch of Sherlock Holmes and the second weekend of Avatar, the box office titan that The Force Awakens hopes to surpass as the highest-grossing film in history.
Despite the furore surrounding the return of the Jedi, a few films managed to score with yuletide ticket buyers.
Paramount reunited The Other Guys stars Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg in the comedy Daddy's Home with strong results. The look at a stepfather's attempts to outshine his wife's stud of a first husband, came in second with a strong $35mn from 3,271 theatres. That was far above projections which had the picture opening in the $20mn range. Daddy's Home carries a $50mn budget.
Fox also scored with Joy, a rag-tag biopic about the creator of the Miracle Mop, that earned $17.5mn from 2,896 theatres. The $60mn film reunites the Silver Linings Playbook team of Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, and Bradley Cooper with director David O. Russell. It is expected to be a leading Oscar contender.
But Point Break, a remake of the 1991 Kathryn Bigelow cult favourite, wiped out. The $105mn action flick eked out $10.2mn from 2,910 venues. The Chinese-American co-production will look abroad for salvation. It has earned a solid $40mn in China, where it opened on December 3. Warner Bros., which has had a horrific year at the box office, can at least content itself with the fact that it's only a gun for hire on this one. Alcon Entertainment and DMG Entertainment financed Point Break.
There are no comments.
SPORT Saying goodbye is never easy, especially when you are saying farewell to those that have left a positive impression. That was the case earlier this month when Canada hosted Mexico in a friendly at BC Place stadium in Vancouver.
TECHNOLOGY Some 60mn primary-school-age children have no access to formal education
CULTURE Lekhwiya’s El Arabi scores the equaliser after Tresor is sent off; Tabata, al-Harazi score for QSL champions
ARABIA The Yemeni Minister of Tourism, Dr Mohamed Abdul Majid Qubati, yesterday expressed hope that the 48-hour ceasefire in Yemen declared by the Command of Coalition Forces on Saturday will be maintained in order to lift the siege imposed on Taz City and ease the entry of humanitarian aid to the besieged
ARABIA Some 200 teachers from schools across the country attended Qatar Museum’s (QM) first ever Teachers Council at the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) yesterday.
ARABIA The Supreme Judiciary Council (SJC) of Qatar and the Indonesian Supreme Court (SCI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on judicial co-operation, it was announced yesterday.
ECONOMY Sri Lanka is keen on importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar as part of government policy to shift to clean energy, Minister of City Planning and Water Supply Rauff Hakeem has said.
