The only surprises this holiday weekend probably came in the form of your family’s gift exchanges, as Rogue One: A Star Wars Story handily beat the box-office competition. Gareth Edwards’ standalone film continued to dominate in what was only its second weekend in wide release, raking in $64,377,000. That 3-day take brings Rogue One’s total to $286,375,674. Now, that’s only about $40 million more than what The Force Awakens totaled in just its opening weekend last year, but it’s still an impressive showing, though it’s made bittersweet by the concurrent hospitalization and death of Star Wars and Hollywood royalty Carrie Fisher.
Also courting holiday moviegoers was the animated talent-search flick, Sing, which features voicework from Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Taron Egerton, and Scarlett Johansson. Garth Jennings and Christophe Lourdelet’s film made $35,290,000 in its opening weekend, and looks poised to recover its $75 million budget. The A.V. Club found the movie more grating than cute, but that solid opening will presumably just see the cast and crew cue up Witherspoon and Nick Kroll’s cover of Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off.”
Passengers coasted enough on Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence’s charm to pick the No. 3 spot with $14,850,000, and is looking at a total of just over $22 million in its first week. But that weak showing lands Passengers just behind House At The End Of The Street in Lawrence’s lowest wide-release box-office tallies. It wasn’t looking much rosier on Pratt’s end, whose previous films Jurassic World, The Magnificent Seven, and The Lego Movie all brought in at least $34 million in their debuts.
Two more first-timers at the box office rounded out the top five, with James Franco and Bryan Cranston’s not-yet-family feud Why Him? coming in at No. 4 with $11,050,000. It edged out another new release, Assassin’s Creed, which made just $10,280,000. The Ubisoft adaptation is a reunion for Macbeth director and stars Justin Kurzel, Michael Fassbender, and Marion Cotillard, but it doesn’t appear to be winning over audiences or critics (it currently has a 19% freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes). (Careful what you wish for, we suppose).
Meanwhile Moana picked up another $7.4 million and now stands at over $180 million total. Fences scored $6.7 million in its second weekend, while La La Land twirled to a $13.6 million total after a $5.7 million weekend. Its seasonal appropriateness brought Office Christmas Party another $5.1 million ($42.2 million total), while Will Smith’s Collateral Beauty moped its way into the top 10 with $4.3 million (for a $15.3 million total).
For more detailed numbers, visit Box Office Mojo.