Box Office: Rogue One and Sing top New Year charts

As predicted, it was Lucasfilm and Disney’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story that came out as the box office champion over the holiday 4-day weekend and continued its surge towards becoming 2016’s top grossing film. The prequel, directed by Gareth Edwards and starring Felicity Jones and Diego Luna, has also continued to rake in the cash across the globe with its international box office just as healthy.

Over the extended weekend, Rogue One grossed $64.3million which pushed its domestic total to $424.9million, overtaking Captain America: Civil War ($408million) and now has the year’s current No.1, Finding Dory ($486.2million) in its sights. Across the world, the film now stands at $774.9million with a release in China still to come – indeed, it is now the UK’s No.1 film of the year grossing £50.7million in just 17 days.

In second place was Universal and Illumination’s latest animated hit Sing, which took in $56.4million. The $75million film, directed by Garth Jennings and featuring the vocal talents of Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson and Seth Macfarlane, is another huge success for the studios after The Secret Life of Pets earlier in the year.

Chris Pratt-Jennifer Lawrence sci-fi’er Passengers was 3rd, grossing $20.7million to bring its total thus far to $66million, while the other big seasonal blockbuster, video-game adaptation Assassin’s Creed, fared worse with a $10.8million gross to lift its domestic total to $41.9million. Both films have hefty budgets attached to them (between $110-$125million) so international grosses may be relied on to bring it up to a respectable “hit” total.

Outside of the big budget fare, this time of year sees many of the Oscar hopefuls also on release, many of which are playing on limited releases: Fences, starring and directed by Denzel Washington, is now playing in over 2,000 cinemas and grossed $12.7million over the weekend for a $32.4million domestic total. Manchester by the Sea, starring Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams, continues its impressive run with another estimated $5million for a $29million total.

Hidden Figures was equally as impressive with $1.1million grossed in just 25 cinemas ($2,61million total); Martin Scorsese’s Silence grossed $110,000 from four cinemas ($337,000 total); Patriots Day, starring Mark Wahlberg, grossed $200,000 from seven cinemas for a $681,000 total; while Adam Driver-Jim Jarmusch collaboration Paterson brought in a decent $88,167 ($119,657 total).

Less good news for Ben Affleck’s Live By Night, however, with the film grossing just $50,000 from four cinemas. The film opens in wide release onJanuaryy 13th, when it also bows in the UK.

But the biggest success continues to be Damien Chazelle’s La La Land, which is capturing audiences imaginations just as it did with critics across the globe. Still only playing it 750 cinemas, the film grossed $12.3million for a total of $37million, while its global total topped $64million from its limited international run thus far.