New ‘Star Wars’ Film Exceeds USD1-B Mark in Global Box Office at Record Pace

Los Angeles (PNA/Xinhua) — Disney’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” the latest installment of the blockbuster science fiction franchise, on Sunday hit the USD1 billion mark in global box office at record pace, according to Rentrak.

The blockbuster installment, the seventh of the kind, posted the biggest second-weekend box office total ever recorded in North America by raking in more than USD153 million in the United States and Canada, according to box office figures gathered by Rentrak.

The latest installment of the “Star Wars” franchise took over the previous second weekend record of USD106.6 million set by “Jurassic World” earlier this year by USD46.9 million.

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” has grossed USD544 million in North America since it was released in North America ten days ago.

Of this weekend’s overall gross for “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” IMAX grosses made up an estimated 19 million dollars. Total IMAX grosses of the new blockbuster film have exceeded USD70 million in North America.

Paramount’s comedy film “Daddy’s Home,” starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg, came in the second place in North America box office this weekend, which took in 38.8 million dollars in its first weekend showings at 3,271 theaters. The film only got 28 percent positive rating from critics on RottenTomatoes, but audience still gave it a solid “B+” rating on CinemaScore.

The film “Joy,” directed by David O. Russell and starring Jennifer Lawrence, was ranked the third. It was shown at 2,896 locations for opening and grossed 17.5 million dollars. “Joy” received a good “B+” rating from first-night moviegoers on CinemaScore and got 57 percent approval rate from critics on RottenTomatoes.

The fourth was “Sisters,” a comedy which made USD13.9 million in ticket earnings for its second weekend and the fifth was “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip,” with USD12.7 million in ticket earnings.

Rounding out the rest 10 most-popular movies of the weekend were “Concussion” (USD11 million), “The Big Short” (USD10.5 million), “Point Break” (USD10.2 million), “Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2” (USD5.3 million) and “The Hateful Eight” (USD4.5 million). (PNA/Xinhua) JMC/EBP