News: January 22-24 Weekend Box Office Numbers

by Ken Miyamoto on January 24, 2016

The winter blizzard on the East Coast likely played a significant part in the weekend box office being down 27% compared to last year, although this time last year American Sniper was playing a huge part in that weekend's box office take. The Revenant scored the top spot while Ride Along 2 suffered a massive second weekend drop.

The weekend's three new wide releases all performed as expected and Star Wars: The Force Awakens held strong with a second place finish bringing in an estimated $14.2 million, adding to its record-setting domestic cume, which is now over $879 million. The film should surpass an amazing $900 million domestically by next weekend at the latest.

The Revenant scored the #1 spot in its fifth weekend in overall release and third weekend in wide release with an estimated $16 million. That's a 49.7% drop from last weekend, pushing the film over $119 million domestically. It is now Leonardo DiCaprio's eighth highest release of all-time, surpassing The Wolf of Wall Street's $116 million and looking as it may finish his fifth highest grossing, ahead of the $144 million The Great Gatsby brought in in 2013.

Last weekend's number one film Ride Along 2 plummeted a terrible 63.2% to third place with an estimated $12.9 million. The first Ride Along dropped only 48.7% in its second weekend and, when comparing the two, the sequel is performing closer to another Tim Story-directed Kevin Hart sequel, Think Like a Man Too. The 2014 sequel to 2012's Think Like a Man dropped 64.7% in its second weekend.

The first of the weekend's newcomers on the chart is Lionsgate's R-rated comedy Dirty Grandpa starring Robert De Niro and Zac Efron. The film garnered an estimated $11.5 million.

Budgeted at just $10 million, STX's The Boy brought in an estimated $11.26 million.

Finishing just outside the top five is the weekend's final new wide release, the young adult adaptation The 5th Wave. Budgeted at $38 million, the PG-13 sci-fi thriller generated an estimated $10.7 million this weekend. Developed with potential as a franchise starter, it looks as if that won't be happening due to the lackluster performance.

Michael Bay's 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi added 528 theaters this weekend and brought in an estimated $9.7 million for a 39.8% second weekend drop. The film has now grossed $33.4 million in its first ten days in release.

Daddy's Home added another $5.2 million as its cume is now over $138 million, Norm of the North dropped 40% in its second weekend and The Big Short rounds out the top ten with an estimated $3.5 million.

Oscar contender Room added 569 theaters this weekend, enjoying its biggest weekend yet. Playing in 862 theaters the film brought in an estimated $1.4 million, bringing its domestic cume to near $8 million.

Another Oscar contender, Brooklyn, added 275 theaters and brought in an estimated $1.67 million in its twelfth weekend in release. Spotlight dropped only 16.5% bringing in an estimated $1.37 million and Bridge of Spies added 350 theaters and jumped 82% from last weekend with $361k.

Next weekend sees the wide release of Kung Fu Panda 3 (which brought in $6.3 million in sneak previews in China on Saturday) into approximately 3,900 theaters, The Finest Hours into about 3,000 theaters and Fifty Shades of Black will open in 2,150+ theaters.

January 22-24, 2016 Weekend Box Office Top Ten

1 The Revenant $16,000,000 ($119,192,522)
2 Star Wars: The Force Awakens $14,257,000 ($879,289,346)
3 Ride Along 2 $12,960,000 ($59,110,040)
4 Dirty Grandpa $11,525,000 ($11,525,000)
5 The Boy $11,260,000 ($11,260,000)
6 The 5th Wave $10,700,000 ($10,700,000)
7 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi $9,750,000 ($33,483,429)
8 Daddy's Home $5,270,000 ($138,780,265)
9 Norm of the North $4,100,000 ($14,296,203)
10 The Big Short $3,500,000 ($56,713,841)