Weekend Box Office: The Revenant Opens Strong, But Star Wars Still Number One

The Revenant made a strong showing on Friday, topping Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but as the weekend continued Star Wars pulled ahead to top the box office for a fourth weekend in a row.

With $38 million The Revenant launched its wide release higher than most expectations. With the likelihood of upcoming awards season bringing extra attention through the end of the month, the buzz may help push it all the way to $100 million.

Over the week The Force Awakens cruised past Avatar to be the highest ever grossing domestic movie and this weekend it cleared another landmark: first movie to ever break $800 million. At $812 million the movie is finally beginning to show signs of a normal decline, dropping over 50% from last weekend. Unless it holds incredibly strong into next weekend it's not likely to go much further than $900 million.

The lone new release this weekend, horror flick The Forest, bowed in at fourth place with $13 million. Not bad for a movie that was equally panned by critics and audiences. The lack of praise will likely translate to a rapid fall off next week, but the damage is done. Against a $10 million production budget the movie is already a financial success.

For the full weekend top ten, check out the chart below:

1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens $41,630,000 Total: $812,011,043 LW: 1 THTRS: 4,134

2. The Revenant $38,000,000 Total: $39,556,901 LW: 23 THTRS: 3,375

3. Daddy's Home $15,000,000 Total: $116,313,576 LW: 2 THTRS: 3,483

4. The Forest * $13,088,000 Total: $13,088,000 LW: N THTRS: 2,451

5. Sisters $7,170,000 Total: $74,879,945 LW: 4 THTRS: 2,864

6. The Hateful Eight $6,351,000 Total: $41,473,820 LW: 3 THTRS: 2,938

7. The Big Short $6,300,000 Total: $42,849,837 LW: 7 THTRS: 2,529

8. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip $5,500,000 Total: $75,608,339 LW: 5 THTRS: 2,972

9. Joy $4,500,000 Total: $46,555,608 LW: 6 THTRS: 2,513

10. Concussion (2015) $3,050,000 Total: $30,968,278 LW: 8 THTRS: 2,056