News: Star Wars Close to Overtaking Avatar Already

Disney is estimating an $88.3 million weekend for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which would bring the film up to $740.2 million after only 17 days in theaters, making it the fastest film to cross $700 million domestically. Avatar took 72 days to accomplish that while Star Wars: The Force Awakens accomplished that in 16 days.

According to BoxOfficeMojo, the film has broken 40 box office records and is currently the sixth highest grossing release worldwide with an estimated $1.51 billion. It will likely be in fourth place shortly after this post.

The Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg comedy Daddy's Home dropped only 25% for an estimated $29 million weekend. The film has now made an outstanding $93.6 million in just ten days on a reported $50 million budget.

In third place is Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight, which managed an estimated $16.2 million in its expansion from 100 theaters over Christmas weekend into 2,474 theaters this weekend. This was on the lower end of expectations, however, with the holiday weekend comprising of many college football games, the second weekend numbers will be the true test. The film will go up against the similar atmospheric Revenent, which is tracking very, very well already in limited release.

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler's Sisters dropped only 11.3% in its third weekend. The $30 million comedy is now up to an estimated $61.7 million. The Big Short is playing well in just under 1,600 theaters, adding another $9 million to its $32 million plus take thus far.