The holiday spirit is strong with Rogue One, as the Star Wars spin-off continued its stranglehold on the box office for the second consecutive weekend.
Rogue One took in around $14 million (Dh51.41 million) on Saturday, placing it on a trajectory to potentially rake in $105 million during the four-day holiday weekend to bring its likely domestic total to well over $300 million since its December 15 release.
Winning the battle for second place appears to be Universal Pictures’ Sing, an animated tale of a koala attempting a last-ditch effort to save his theatre by holding a reality show-style singing competition.
From production company Illumination Entertainment, Sing is buoyed by several celebrity voice performances, including Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon and Scarlett Johansson.
Through Sunday the animated film had brought in an estimated $33.17 million, putting it on track to earn around $51 million through Monday and over $71 million since its Wednesday release date.
Passengers and Assassin’s Creed, two high-profile live-action efforts that debuted this weekend, proved to be no match at the box office for Rogue One.
Sony’s Passengers, the sci-fi adventure starring Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt, earned an estimated $2.8 million on Saturday, likely bringing its box office take to around $22 million for the four-day weekend.
Directed by Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game), the film centers around a ship hurtling through space and a malfunction that results in Pratt’s and Lawrence’s characters being awakened from their sleep chambers 90 years too soon.
Fox’s Assassin’s Creed, an adaptation of the highly successful series of video games that share the name, looks to likely bring in around $15.1 million through Monday, bringing its cumulative box office take to $22.6 million since its Wednesday debut. The numbers will likely be seen as a disappointment, given the film’s sizeable budget.
Likely rounding out the weekend’s top five is Fox’s comedy Why Him? starring Bryan Cranston as an irritated father forced to make nice with his daughter’s (Zoey Deutch) lacklustre beau (James Franco).
The R-rated romp is on track to earn around $14.3 million for the four-day weekend, looking to provide comedic holiday counterprogramming for adult audiences.
Christmas falling on a Sunday for the first time since 2011 makes for a particularly unique situation at the box office, with several high-profile projects entering into wide release on Christmas Day.
Oscar contender Fences, the adaptation of the acclaimed August Wilson play that’s directed by and stars Denzel Washington, entered wide release on Sunday. Washington and co-star Viola Davis reprise the roles that earned them each Tony Awards in the 2010 revival of the play.
Also expanding on Sunday was Lionsgate’s Oscar-favourite La La Land, which stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as singing and dancing lovebirds trying to make it in Los Angeles. The film earned around $815,000 at 205 locations on Saturday, before expanding to 734 locations Sunday. To date, La La Land has brought in $9.6 million at the box office.
The Weinstein Co.’s Lion, starring Dev Patel searching for the family he lost 25 years before, also expanded Sunday.
Other notable limited releases include Martin Scorsese’s religious epic Silence, starring Andrew Garfield, and Mark Wahlberg’s Patriots Day, about the Boston Marathon bombing.
