Weekend box office: Passengers can’t beat Rogue One or Sing

Brad Sturdivant December 25th, 2016

A lot is going to be said about how poorly all of the new movies have fared at the weekend box office, but I feel compelled to remind everyone that they were competing with Star Wars. Studios are going to have to accept that we live in a world where there’s going to be a Star Wars movie released every mid-December for the foreseeable future. That means that opening up a Sci-fi film like PASSENGERS (click the link to read our review) or an action movie based on a video game like ASSASSIN’S CREED in December is a ridiculous move. I’m not sure either of those films would have done well without the competition but anyone that was on the fence about them probably opted for Star Wars instead. And, as predicted, ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY was #1 again and it wasn’t even close. The animated SING barely took in half of Rogue One’s haul and PASSENGERS, WHY HIM and ASSASSIN’S CREED all fell a little limp after being blasted by critics.

Next week is all about the Oscar hopefuls. First up is Ben Affleck’s latest directorial effort, LIVE BY NIGHT. Then we have HIDDEN FIGURES, PATERSON, 20TH CENTURY WOMEN and Denzel Washington’s FENCES. All of them will grab the Oscar-watcher crowds, with LIVE BY NIGHT probably hoping to be able to reach a little broader. But however well it does, it won’t be enough to beat out ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY. Note: the numbers below are for the three day weekend and will be updated as they become final.

1. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story $70.1m

2. Sing $34.5m

3. Passengers $12.4m

4. Why Him? $10.3m

5. Assassin’s Creed $9.9m

6. Moana $6.9m

7. Office Christmas Party $4.7m

8. Collateral Beauty $3.4m

9. Manchester By the Sea $3.1

10. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them $2.9m

(Deadline)