• Box Office

World Box Office Jan 18- Jan 24

The Revenant stood tall in the face of the freak winter storm Jonas – which blanketed the American Northeast in feet of snow and shut down hundreds of theaters – finishing the weekend in first place at the domestic box office with $16 million and reaching a domestic total of $119.2 million. Theaters in New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington and other major cities on the East Coast were still closed on Sunday, with analysts predicting a 12% drop in the weekend’s total box office returns as a result.

Overseas The Revenant earned its first top finish with $33.8 million coming from 48 markets for an international cumulative of $104.5 million. Its biggest market to date is the UK, where Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu’s Golden Globe winning and Oscar nominated picture has made $18 million to date. The film debuted in the director’s native Mexico this weekend, taking an outstanding $5.27 million. It rose 36% in Italy for a $4.45 million weekend, and made $3.5 million in Germany. Korea was good for $3.2 million, and this past frame was worth $1.6 million in Australia.

Revenant now sits at a combined global cumulative of $237 million, and will take a big boost if the film matches its performance at the Golden Globes with a series of Oscar wins.

Even after more than a month in theaters, with countless records broken and hordes of new fans preaching its gospel, Star Wars: The Force Awakens came in a strong second both at home and abroad. It made $14.2 million in the US and Canada, taking a stiff hit from Julian as well as competition from a growing slate of enticing alternatives to J.J. Abrams’s sci-fi juggernaut. But let’s not feel sorry for our friends from a galaxy far far away just yet. With this weekend’s take, Star Wars crossed $870 million at the domestic box office. And with $23.3 million coming from its foreign markets, this film has reached an overseas tally of $1.06 billion. The combined figure sits just shy of $2 billion, keeping it at number 3 on the all- time chart behind Titanic and Avatar. In China Force made a somewhat disappointing $112.7 million, and with Kung Fu Panda 3 set to come out in the Middle Kingdom on Friday it will see a big chunk of its market share knocked out.

Next on the international chart is Sony’s alien invasion thriller The 5th Wave. Chloe Grace Moretz stars as a high school girl forced to become a soldier after an alien attack rocks her town and takes out most of the US military. It took the number one spot in 12 of its 13 markets in Latin America, the biggest being Brazil where it grabbed $1.6 million this frame. It made a relatively huge $692K in Peru, taking 41% of the Andean nation’s market share. Its biggest market in Asia was the Philippines, where it took $1.1 million. As of now, it sits at a global cumulative of $38.8 million.

Still on the overseas front Sylvester Stallone’s Creed grossed $9.05 million to reach an international cume of $41.9 million. Its combined cumulative is now $150 million.

Next week we’ll track The Finest Hours, Jane Got a Gun, and Kung Fu Panda 3.

Lorenzo Soria