Having vanquished “Titanic” and “Jurassic World”, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” has set its sights on “Avatar”.The space opera sequel is moving up the all-time domestic box office charts at a record clip and now is poised to overtake those pointy eared blue aliens as the top grossing film in history.”Avatar” earned $760.5 million during its stateside run and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” has generated $740.4 million domestically after picking up $88.3 million over New Year’s weekend.It should take the crown from “Avatar” early next week.Globally, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” ranks as the sixth highest-grossing film in history, having earned $1.5 billion worldwide.It should pass “Furious 7” and “Marvel’s The Avengers” to become the fourth biggest film in history in the coming days.The film will get a big shot in the arm next week when it premieres in China, the world’s second biggest market for film.Depending on how enthusiastically it is received in the People’s Republic, “The Force Awakens” could shoot past “Avatar’s” record $2.8 billion global haul.Even as “The Force Awakens” commanded the bulk of box office revenues a few films managed to profit from the holiday season.Paramount’s “Daddy’s Home”, a comedy about a nerdy stepfather (Will Ferrell) who finds himself outshone by his wife’s first husband (Mark Wahlberg), picked up $29 million in its second weekend, driving the film’s domestic total to $93.7 million.The Weinstein Company did relatively well after moving up the wide release of “The Hateful Eight” by a week.The revisionist western from Quentin Tarantino racked up $16.2 million to finish in third place. That’s a solid start, though on the lower-end for wide-release debuts from the director.
source:Reuters
