Daisy Ridley and John Boyega in Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is about to crack $70 million at the local BO after racking up a weekend gross of $8.9 million on 324 screens, according to Rentrak estimates.
In its third week of release, the Disney monster rang up $1.9 million on Thursday, $2.3 on Friday, $2.5 Saturday and $2.2 Sunday to bring its total to $69,816 by end of day Sunday.
The JJ Abrams directed epic will have to exhibit legs of granite to take the all-time local BO crown of $115 million set by Avatar in 2009, as recorded by the MPDAA.
Star Wars’ closest competition was Daddy’s Home, the Will Ferrell-Mark Wahlberg vehicle in its second week of release.
On 251 screens, the Paramount comedy made $3.5 million over the weekend to bring its total to $9.8 million.
Meanwhile Disney/Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur passed the $7 million mark in week two of release to come in third.
Peter Sohn’s prehistoric animated adventure looks set to make less than both Pixar’s most recent outings, Inside Out and Monsters University (more than $20 million each at the local BO) off the back of middling reviews and that all conquering galaxy far, far away.
Opening on 223 screens, Roadshow’s Point Break remake, starring Australia’s Luke Bracey, has reached a total of $1.9 million, while David O. Russell’s Joy, starring Jennifer Lawrence took in $1.7 million over the weekend to bring its overall gross in its second week to $5 million.
Fox International’s other two holiday releases were the animated Alvin and the Chipmunks: Road Chip, and Snoopy and Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie.
In its second week, Alvin earned $1.6 million over the weekend to bring its total to $5.5 million, while Snoopy notched up $1.2 million after opening on 261 screens on Thursday.
Coming in at eight was the latest instalment of Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat’s Sherlock Holmes redo, Sherlock: The Abominable Bride.
The Benedict Cumberbatch-starrer premiered simultaneously on Stan and at 142 cinemas around the country, where the Sharmill release pulled in $773,895 over the weekend.
Rounding out the top ten are Suffragette, which took $684,628 for a cumulative total of $2,156,339, and Spectre, which dropped 11 per cent in its eighth week for a weekend gross of $421,971 to bring its cume to $34.7 million.
The highest-ranked Australian holdover was The Dressmaker at twelfth on the list, dropping 59 per cent for weekend earnings of $342,717.
This brought its overall tally to $18,834,893 – just outside the top 10 for all time Australian BO.
Transmission’s Carol previewed on fourteen screens, racking up $95,246 in three days ahead of its January 14 release.
Matchbox’s Nowhere Boys: The Book of Shadows has taken $9,595 in its first week, opening on 22 screens.