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‘The Revenant’ Movie Beats ‘Star Wars’ At The Box Office Friday, But ‘The Force Awakens’ Still On Top

By Dee Sharp
Published on: 07:28 PST, Jan 10, 2016

The Revenant is the first movie to beat Star Wars: The Force Awakens at the box office, but it was just for one day. Entertainment Weekly reported that on Friday, January 8, The Revenant ‘s box office sales were $14.4 million, while Star Wars made $10.8 million. The Revenant failed to beat the weekend sales, however: The Revenant movie’s weekend sales totaled just $38 million, while Star Wars made $41.6 million. Leonardo DiCaprio stars in The Revenant, and plays a trapper, Hugh Glass. The Revenant is “based on true events” and is the story of survival. Glass, during a trapping expedition with other trappers, survives an Indian attack, but gets mauled by a grizzly bear and ends up being left for dead by his trapper companions. The movie chronicles his epic fight for survival.

Fandango describes the film as a “visceral cinematic experience.”

“The Revenant is an immersive and visceral cinematic experience capturing one man’s epic adventure of survival and the extraordinary power of the human spirit.”

Economic Times reported that The Revenant might win “Best Film.” Critics are saying that DiCaprio may get his first Oscar for his role as Hugh Glass. The Revenant is directed by Alejandro Inarritu. Inarritu also directed Birdman, which won four Oscars last year, including Best Film and Best Director. What does DiCaprio say about The Revenant? DiCaprio said the movie captures “the poetry of what it means to have all the chips stacked against you, to have very little chance of survival and this triumph of the human spirit.” DiCaprio also says this is the hardest thing he has ever done.

“We had a massive crew that had to logistically move from these remote locations through these incredibly harsh winter landscapes… like these fur trappers, we had to adapt to our environment.”

As far as Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the film has surpassed all other box office hits by becoming the first movie ever to make over $800 million at the box office in the U.S. The newest installment in the Star Wars saga, released by Walt Disney Films, has made a staggering $812 million domestically. Globally, Star Wars has made $1.73 billion, passing Jurassic World to become the third most globally successful movie. Star Wars also passed by Avatar domestically, but still hasn’t beat Avatar in worldwide sales. Avatar is the most successful film globally, with $2.79 billion. Titanic is in second place globally, with $2.19 billion. Back in May of last year, the Guardian posted an article posing the question, “Will Star Wars: Episode 7 be the first $3 billion movie?” The movie is already over halfway there, and it’s possible that Star Wars will make that much, if not more, globally.

The Wrap posted an article saying that Star Wars was released in China this weekend, bringing in a whopping $53 million, which helped boost the movie’s global earnings. The Wrap says China is the second largest movie market, and sales there will be crucial for the movie to top $2.8 billion in order to pass Avatar as the all-time most successful global movie. With the initial release sales of Star Wars in China this weekend, that goal seems possible for the Star Wars franchise.

Following this weekend’s box office hits were third place runner up, Daddy’s Home, with $15 million. Fourth place went to The Forest, with $13.1 million, and coming in fifth place with the weekend box office sales was Sisters, at $7.2 million.

Do you think The Revenant will continue to draw big sales at the box office?

[Image via YouTube/20th Century Fox]

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