NORTH AMERICA: Weekend Actuals: 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Zooms Past $800M After Leading with $42.4M; 'The Revenant' Breaks Out with $39.8M Second Place Take; 'The Forest' Opens in Fourth with Solid $12.7M

By Daniel Garris

Disney's Star Wars: The Force Awakens took in $42.35 million to lead the weekend box office for a fourth consecutive frame. The seventh chapter of the Star Wars franchise claimed the second largest fourth weekend gross of all-time; behind only the $50.31 million fourth weekend take of Avatar back in January of 2010. The Force Awakens was down a sharp 53 percent from last weekend, as the film having been seen by so many moviegoers, the end of the holidays and the added presence of The Revenant in the marketplace all took a toll this weekend.

In the bigger picture Star Wars: The Force Awakens passed the $800 million mark this weekend and continues to pad its total as the highest grossing film of all-time domestically with $812.73 million in 24 days of release. The Force Awakens is currently running 89 percent ahead of the $430.85 million 24-day take of Avatar and 46 percent ahead of the $556.54 million 24-day gross of last year's Jurassic World. When adjusting for ticket price inflation, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is now in twelfth place on the all-time adjusted domestic list, as the film moved past the lifetime adjusted grosses of Return of the Jedi, The Exorcist and The Empire Strikes Back this weekend.

Fox's The Revenant had a terrific expansion into wide release with a close second place take of $39.83 million. The Alejandro González Iñárritu directed western starring Leonardo DiCaprio exceeded its rising expectations and claimed the fourth largest January opening weekend of all-time (without adjusting for ticket price inflation). It was especially important for The Revenant to get off to a strong start this weekend with the film's expensive price tag in mind. The Revenant marks another strong performer for DiCaprio and opened just below the $41.06 million start of 2010's Shutter Island. This weekend's performance for The Revenant was just ahead of the $37.85 million debut of 2014's Lone Survivor and was an impressive 63 percent stronger than the $24.44 million Zero Dark Thirty took in its first weekend of wide release back in January of 2013.

The Revenant took in $14.35 million on Friday (which included an estimated $2.3 million from Thursday evening shows), increased 6 percent on Saturday to take in $15.28 million and declined 33 percent on Sunday to gross $10.20 million. That placed the film's opening weekend to Friday ratio at 2.78 to 1. After an additional two weeks of platform release, The Revenant has grossed $41.38 million in 17 days. The film received a solid B+ rating on CinemaScore and currently boasts a strong 87 percent audience score on Flixster. The Revenant will hope to hold up well going forward, thanks in part to its awards season buzz, which was strengthened by the film's three Golden Globe wins last night.

Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu recently spoke with BoxOffice on the film's themes and its ambitious production, which aims to harness the full potential of the big screen experience. That interview can be read here.

Paramount's Daddy's Home claimed third place with $15.02 million. The PG-13 rated comedy starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg was down a sizable 49 percent from last weekend, as the end of the holiday season and the stronger than expected performance of The Revenant affected holdovers in general this weekend. Even with the decline this weekend, Daddy's Home continues to impress with a stronger than expected 17-day take of $116.33 million. That places the film 32 percent ahead of the $88.25 million 17-day take of 2010's The Other Guys (which fell 42 percent in its third weekend to gross $10.16 million).

The Forest debuted in fourth place this weekend with $12.74 million. The PG-13 horror film from Focus and Gramercy starring Natalie Dormer exceeded pre-release expectations and was off to a solid start with its modest $10 million reported production budget it mind. January tends to be a good month to open horror films and that trend continued this weekend for The Forest. The film opened 15 percent below the $15.03 million start of last year's The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death, but going forward likely won't be quite as front-loaded as that film was.

The Forest launched with $4.98 million on Friday (which included an estimated $0.52 million from Thursday evening shows), increased 4.5 percent on Saturday to gross $5.20 million and fell 50.5 percent on Sunday to gross $2.57 million. That gave the film an opening weekend to Friday ratio of 2.56 to 1. The Forest received a C rating on CinemaScore, which is respectable for a horror film. On the other hand, the film has received a soft 34 percent audience score on Flixster. Regardless of word of mouth, The Forest should be front-loaded given its genre and the upcoming direct competition from STX Entertainment's The Boy beginning on January 22.

Sisters rounded out the weekend's top five with $7.19 million. Universal's R-rated comedy starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler declined 44 percent, which represented one of the weekend's stronger percentage holds among wide releases. Sisters continues to impress with a 24-day gross of $73.90 million. That already gives the film a total gross to opening weekend ratio of 5.31 to 1. Sisters is currently running 20 percent ahead of the $61.44 million 24-day gross of 2012's This Is 40.

The Weinstein Company's The Hateful Eight and Paramount's The Big Short took sixth and seventh place with respective grosses of $6.40 million and $6.17 million. The break-out performance of The Revenant clearly took a toll on both films this weekend, as The Hateful Eight was down a very sharp 59 percent despite adding 464 locations and The Big Short was down 32 percent despite adding 941 locations. Respective total grosses stand at $42.72 million for The Big Short in 31 days and at $41.53 million for The Hateful Eight in 17 days.