It was a huge holiday weekend at the box office for one holdover, while three new releases didn’t really resonate with audiences. Here’s what went down:
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story held on to the top spot over the three-day weekend, bringing in an estimated $70 million. By the end of Boxing Day, the film will be sitting well past the $300 million range after just over a week in theaters. While it won’t reach the numbers we saw with The Force Awakens, Rogue One is still on its way to $400+ million gross.
Debuting in second place with $34.7 million was Sing. I thought that we would have seen a higher number for this one, seeing as its a new family friendly offering. However, Disney’s Moana is still playing strong, which could account for Sing‘s numbers being a little less than I predicted.
As for the rest of the top five, Passengers debut in third place with a very poor estimate of $13.4 million. Clearly, the star power of Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt couldn’t overcome the terrible reviews the film received. The same can be said for Assassin’s Creed, which could only muster up $10.7 million in its debut weekend. Finally, the new James Franco film Why Him? was equally DOA, landing in fifth place with $10.9 million.
So, to recap, here are our predictions:
1) Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – $98 million
2) Sing – $51 million
3) Passengers – $31 million
4) Assassin’s Creed – $20 million
5) Moana – $12 million
And here’s how the three-day weekend is estimated to turn out:
1) Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – $70 million
2) Sing – $34.7 million
3) Passengers – $13.4 million
4) Assassin’s Creed – $10.7 million
5) Why Him? – $10.9 million
Check back on Friday to see our predictions for the final weekend of 2016!
