Weekend Box Office Report: Star Wars Continues To Break Records
By Bill Wine
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- That's three in a row and counting.
The sci-fi fantasy sequel, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, finished in first place for a third consecutive weekend, earning an estimated $88-million.
Installment number seven in the franchise, Star Wars: The Force Awakens continued its assault on the record books, eclipsing the $700-million mark in just over two weeks.
With the second largest January weekend in movie history, the runaway blockbuster is close to passing Avatar as the biggest domestic commercial release of all time.
The holdover Will Ferrell-Mark Wahlberg comedy, Daddy's Home, was the runner-up with $29-million, followed by Quentin Tarantino's western, The Hateful Eight with $16-million; and then Sisters, the Tina Fey-Amy Poehler comedy, with $13-million, good for fourth place.
Industry-wide totals were below those of last weekend, but well above those of a year ago.