“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” probably won’t be able to hold off Kevin Hart and Ice Cube‘s “Ride Along 2” from taking the No. 1 spot at the box office next weekend.
The Disney’s blockbuster rallied for a narrow victory over the Leonardo DiCaprio frontier epic “The Revenant” this past weekend, after the frontier epic beat it on Friday, but Universal’s Tim Story-directed comedy sequel is tracking to open a little under the $41 million. That’s the same three-day total that the original “Ride Along” debuted with in the same Martin Luther King Day weekend slot two years ago.
“The Force Awakens” fell off roughly 55 percent this past weekend, and a similar drop will put it around $20 million next week, so its streak of weekends at No. 1 will likely end at four.
We’re talking the highest-grossing movie in U.S. history in “The Force Awakens,” one that has rolled up its huge grosses in record time, and beat the runner-up movie by an average margin of more than $100 million since it opened on Dec. 18.
Given that dominance, why will it fall out of the top spot after four weeks?
A month-long run atop the box office is impressive, but it doesn’t compare with the leaders. Steven Spielberg‘s “E.T.: The Extraterrestrial” held the No. 1 position for 16 weeks in 1982. “Titanic” topped the list for 15 weekends in 1997 before “Lost In Space” ended its streak, and 1984’s “Beverly Hills Cop” and 1983’s “Tootsie” both led 14 weeks.
Long runs at No. 1 were easier back then because studios generally steered clear of January, February and March with major releases, as well as September and August. The thinking was that most kids were back in school, and there was the potential for bad weather to ruin a weekend in the winter and spring. Kids still still skip school and lousy weather hasn’t gone anywhere, so why has Hollywood been able to colonize the fallow months over the past three or four years?
“Moviegoers habits were different then,” Fox Distribution president Chris Aronson told TheWrap. “Audiences were dominated by youngsters but that’s not the case today. Adults have become the most reliable group.”
Nikki Rocco and Dan Fellman, the former distribution chiefs at Universal and Warner Bros., respectively, were major advocates of expanding the release calendar. Hollywood got on board about three years ago and major releases roll out, complete with commensurate marketing campaigns, in just about every month now.
The decision to spread things out has paid off. The bigger movies are connecting and moving them to the quiet months has cut the crowd for other movies.
The movies and months with new opening weekend records for grosses:
January — “American Sniper” ($89 million, 2014);
February — “Fifty Shades of Grey” ($85 million, 2014);
March — “The Hunger Games” ($152 million, 2012);
April — “Furious 7” ($147 million, 2014);
May — “The Avengers” (2012, $207 million);
August —“Guardians of the Galaxy” ($94 million, 2013);
September — “Hotel Transylvania 2,” (2015, $48 million);
October — “Gravity” ($55 million, 2013).
Golden Globes: The Best And Worst Moments (Photos)
Worst: Jonah Hill dresses up as the bear in "The Revenant" Presenters Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill stumped the audience and viewers at home with inside jokes that never quite took off, while Hill's deliberately bad bear costume was met with slow applause.
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Best: Matt Damon's reaction to Ricky Gervais' Ben Affleck joke Host Gervais had everyone gasping when he introduced Damon as “the only person Ben Affleck hasn’t been unfaithful to." But it was Damon’s subtle reaction that got the real laugh -- as he simply nodded his head and smiled politely.
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Best: Oscar Isaac's acceptance speech for Best Supporting Actor Isaac dedicated his award to the memory of Nick Wasicsko, whose battle to bring subsidized housing to Yonkers is the basis of the HBO miniseries “Show Me a Hero.” The "Star Wars" actor was also the first winner who wrapped up his speech on time.
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Best: Eva Longoria and America Ferrera's presenter speech While presenting Best Actor in a TV series, Drama, Latina star Eva Longoria reminded audiences that she is notEva Mendes, while America Ferrera made sure people knew she wasn't Gina Rodriguez. The joke was a subtle nod to when the Golden Globes Twitter tagged Ferrera as Rodriguez during the nomination announcements.
Worst:Jaimie Alexander cussing at the teleprompter writer Jaimie Alexander got frustrated at whomever wrote the script for her bit as she introduced the award for Best Actor in a Limited Series or TV Movie. After trouble with the teleprompter resulted in a long awkward silence, she finally asked, “Dude, who’s typing this sh-t?”
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Best: Jamie Foxx recreates that famous Miss Universe mistake Jamie Foxx and Lily James presented the award for Best Original Score, Motion Picture, but before they announced that Ennio Morricone won for "The Hateful Eight," Foxx joked that "Straight Outta Compton" had won. Steve Harvey, eat your heart out.
Best: Jason Statham's headlock Jason Statham’s comedic talent is all over Paul Feig’s “Spy” — but in introducing the film for its Best Comedy or Musical nomination, Statham again got to shine. In setting up the clip package, the action star majorly overplayed his own role in the Melissa McCarthy film. When director Paul Feig argued that he was just a minor player, the star “punched” Feig in the stomach and put him in a headlock.
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Best: Aziz Ansari's reaction to being nominated in the same category as Jeffrey Tambor Having your face squeezed into a box along with the other nominees can sometimes be a bit awkward. But every once in a while someone manages to do something that makes us smile. Instead of giving us the usual uncomfortable clap, actor Aziz Ansari decided to read a book called, “Losing to Jeffrey Tambor with Dignity.” The Golden Globe for best actor in TV comedy eventually went to “Mozart in the Jungle’s” Gael García Bernal, but Ansari may have won best reaction shot of the night.
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Worst: Quentin Tarantino's mistakes during his acceptance speech Tarantino accepted the Golden Globe for Best Original Score on behalf of his “Hateful Eight” composer, Ennio Morricone, but his acceptance speech featured a glaring inaccuracy that had film buffs venting on social media. Tarantino said that Morricone had “never won an award for any one individual movie” at a U.S. awards show -- but that’s not exactly true, and he has two prior Globes to his name.
Best: Brad Pitt and Ryan Gosling's beautiful banter Pitt and Gosling got a thunderous applause when they walked on stage to introduce "The Big Short," nominated for Best Picture in Musical or Comedy category. The crowd cheered extra long not just because of their cheeky banter, but also because they provided the audience with a double dose of eye candy.
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Worst: Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell's speech “Daddy’s Home” costars Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell came on stage wearing 2016 colored glasses while presenting the award for Best Screenplay, Motion Picture (which went to Aaron Sorkin for "Steve Jobs"). However, during the speech, Ferrell called out the audience for being too noisy: "Can we stop all the talking and the laughter and the snickering? Because right now you people are coming off as real buttonholes!" Prompting Wahlberg to cut him off at the bar: "It’s alright, no more drinks for Will." Talk about awkward comedy.
Worst: Tom Hanks' nasal-y presenter speech Hanks had a semi-disgusting phlegmy cold voice as he presented the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in motion pictures. Next time, please stay home sick and send another A-list actor as a replacement -- we suggest George Clooney.
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Best: Lady Gaga tearing up when she won for "American Horror Story: Hotel" Lady Gaga was brought to tears as she thanked all her fellow "American Horror Story: Hotel" cast mates for letting her "shine" while accepting the award for Best Actress in a Limited Series or TV Movie. Gaga won the audience with her humility, saying she "wanted to be an actress before I wanted to be a singer." Also, she kind of knocked Leonardo DiCaprio on her way to the stage, which provided Twitter with one of the best GIFs of the night.
Best: Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Schumer kill the presenter game Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Schumer had one of the best banters of the night as the duo presented clips from their own Best Comedy or Musical-nominated films “Joy” and “Trainwreck.” “I’m J. Law,” Lawrence said of her tabloid nickname, to which Schumer responded, “I’m A-Schu.” “You can’t just give yourself a celebrity name,” Lawrence begged to differ. “Like Amy-Tom Hardy?” Schumer joked. Lawrence told her to aim for someone she could actually date, not just “people you want to have sex with," so Schumer suggested “Amy-All the Hemsworths."
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Worst: Awkward exchange between Mel Gibson and Ricky Gervais Gervais and Gibson delivered some funny lines but their overall exchange was uncomfortable at best. The host joked about the actor's alcohol problem, but said he’d rather have a drink with Gibson than Bill Cosby. As Gibson came out he shot back,“I love seeing Ricky every three years because it reminds me to get a colonoscopy,” which prompted Gervais to return to the stage with a drink in his hand Gervais, with drink in hand. As he swung his arm around Gibson he asked a question that viewers at home never got to hear because it was bleeped. What was it that offended the censors so? Gervais wanted to know “What the f--k does sugar tits mean?”
Best: Cookies from Cookie Taraji P. Henson gets the best walk to the stage moment. The actress, who plays Cookie Lyon on Fox's hit show "Empire," must have had a hunch she might win Best Actress in a TV drama because she brought a whole bunch of cookies which she gave to people on her way to the mic. Then, in true Cookie fashion she scolded producers for playing the wrap-up-your-speech music for going too long. "I've waited 20 years for this. You're going to wait," she said.
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From awkward icebreakers to the funniest speeches, TheWrap picks moments to remember and those we’d rather forget from Sunday’s awards show hosted by Ricky Gervais