PORTLAND, OR (CelebrityAccess) — The 2015 Christmas holiday weekend was the highest-earning Christmas weekend in North American box office history, and the second weekend to ever surpass the $300 million threshold.
A wide assortment of movies brought record numbers of patrons to movie theaters across the U.S. during the Christmas holiday weekend, giving the industry its biggest overall Christmas weekend take in for North American box office history, with an estimated $300 million from Friday through Sunday. This record comes just one week after the opening weekend of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," which was the first $300 million-plus weekend in box office history.
"The fact that we have back-to-back record-breaking weekends—both of which crossed the $300 million threshold for the first time ever—is a testament to the power and allure of the movie theater experience today," said Rentrak's Senior Media Analyst, Paul Dergarabedian. "The crop of movies in theaters during this holiday season is second to none and is unparalleled in terms their appeal to a wide range of audiences male and female, old and young alike.
Led by the latest "Star Wars" installment, star-powered new releases including the Will Ferrell comedy "Daddy's Home," Jennifer Lawrence in "Joy," Will Smith in "Concussion," Leonardo DiCaprio in "The Revenant" and director Quentin Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight," as well as expansions of critical favorites like "The Danish Girl" and "The Big Short" and other must-see films such as "Spotlight" and "Carol," all contributed to this weekend's record-breaking numbers.
Top Ten Domestic Movies:
1 Star Wars: The Force Awakens – Disney – $153,522,000
2 Daddy's Home – Paramount – $38,800,000
3 Joy – 20th Century Fox – $17,500,000
4 Sisters – Universal – $13,876,970
5 Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Road Chip – 20th Century Fox – $12,700,000
6 Concussion – Sony – $11,000,000
7 The Big Short – Paramount – $10,520,000
8 Point Break – Warner Bros. – $10,220,000
9 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 – Lionsgate – $5,300,000
10 The Hateful Eight – The Weinstein Company – $4,536,591
