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But it had stiff competition from an early awards contender



Rogue One: A Star Wars Story has scooped its fourth consecutive week at the top of the US box office – but it was a close one.

The non-sequential Star Wars movie took $22 million this week, just about topping the widely acclaimed comedy-drama Hidden Figures to reign supreme of the office once more.

Rogue One is certainly continuing its story of success at the top of the US box office.

The film has lifted its domestic total to $477.3 million, making it the eighth-largest domestic grosser of all time – but Hidden Figures may just be the real winner this week.

The movie is performing well above recent forecasts (averaged between $16 - $18 million) and was made for a modest $25 million, so it's pretty close to covering its costs.

Hidden Figures tells the true story of three pioneering African American woman in the early days of the American Space programme, and raked in a notable $21.8 million.

The movie stars Taraji P Henson, Janelle Monáe and Octavia Spencer in the lead roles, but – despite its impressive cast – couldn't quite beat out Star Wars.

Although it did trump Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone's La La Land, so it's not all bad news.

In at third was animated animal comedy Sing, with $19.6 million, while Kate Beckinsale's Underworld sequel Blood Wars took a respectable fourth-place finish with $13.1 million.

Rounding off the top 5 was La La Land, which took $10 million across US theatres this week.

Read on for the full Jan. 6-8 weekend estimates:

1. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – $21.9 million
2. Hidden Figures – $21.8 million
3. Sing – $19.6 million
4. Underworld: Blood Wars – $13.1 million
5. La La Land – $10 million
6. Passengers – $8.8 million
7. Why Him? – $6.5 million
8. Moana – $6.4 million
9. Fences – $4.7 million
10. Assassin’s Creed – $3.8 million