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We always knew it was going to be a big weekend for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and it hasn’t disappointed, raking in an absolutely huge $155 million at the US box office.

On its first day in cinemas, the Star Wars spinoff took over $70 million; although it was still nowhere near the $238 million that Star Wars: The Force Awakens brought in last year.

Still, the massive opening weekend total puts the film leagues ahead of its closest competitor Moana, Disney’s latest princess picture which it knocked off the top spot. As in, over $140 million ahead, as Moana brought in another $11.67 million this week.

Kate McKinnon and Jason Bateman’s Office Christmas Party came in at number three, earning $8.45 million, while new entry Collateral Beauty debuted surprisingly low in the number four spot, bringing in $7 million.

The film has an all-star ensemble cast of Will Smith, Kate Winslet, Keira Knightley and Helen Mirren, but struggled to impress critics (or audiences).

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them fell to the fifth spot, earning $5.03 million, while Manchester by the Sea came in at number six, with $4.13 million, with La La Land just behind at seven with $4.02 million.

In eighth place was sci-fi film Arrival with $2.78 million, while Doctor Strange clung on to a top ten spot with $2.04 million.

Thriller Nocturnal Animals rounded out the top ten, bringing in $1.4 million.

Check out the Dec. 16-18 domestic estimates below:

1. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – $155 million
2. Moana – $11.7 million
3. Office Christmas Party – $8.5 million
4. Collateral Beauty – $7 million
5. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – $5 million
6. Manchester by the Sea – $4.2 million
7. La La Land – $4 million
8. Arrival – $2.8 million
9. Doctor Strange – $2 million
10. Nocturnal Animals – $1.4 million

This box office news can be discussed here

Disney’s latest princess flick and record-breaking box office hit Moana has scored its third consecutive week at the top of the US Box Office.

The movie follows a teenage girl (Auli’i Cravalho) being chosen by the ocean to reunite a magical relic with a goddess, which sees her team up with shapeshifting demi-god Maui (Dwayne Johnson).

And it certainly seems to be working its magic on cinema-goers in the US.

The movie took in $18.8 million this week, adding to a combined total gross of $145 million in the US since it opened.

Moana saw off competition from Jennifer Aniston’s Office Christmas Party, which hit cinemas and came in second at the box office this week.

Despite being panned by a lot of publications, the movie boasts an all-star ensemble cast, with the likes of Kate McKinnon, Jason Bateman and TJ Miller, and has ultimately enjoyed success with audiences, taking in a cool $17.5 million.

Trailing in third place was JK Rowling’s latest cinematic venture Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, earning another $10.8 million and taking its gross domestic total close to $200 million.

Rounding out the US top five this week was Amy Adams’ Arrival at 4, earning another $5.6 million, while Marvel’s latest hit Doctor Strange enjoyed another week in fifth place, taking $4.6 million.

But with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story due to hit cinemas this week with early reactions looking good, we think Moana should prepared to be swept off the top spot pretty soon…

Here are the weekend’s top 10 highest-grossing films:

1. Moana – $18.8 million
2. Office Christmas Party – $17.5 million
3. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – $10.8 million
4. Arrival – $5.6 million
5. Doctor Strange – $4.6 million
6. Allied – $4 million
7. Nocturnal Animals – $3.2 million
8. Manchester By the Sea – $3.16 million
9. Trolls – $3.11 million
10. Hacksaw Ridge – $2.3 million

This box office news can be discussed here

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theaters, according to comScore.

Coming in at No. 2 is “Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them”. The film, now in its second frame, earned $6.5 million at 3,875 locations, raising its domestic total to just shy of $100 million.

“Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them” was #2 Friday with $5.0 million, while “Allied” grabbed #3 on the strength of $2.2 million.

Third place was held down by “Arrival”, with $7.3 million in receipts this weekend and $73 million in three weeks of exhibition. While there are still some big films on the horizon, including “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” and the animated “Sing”, it remains to be seen whether or not they will compete with the late-game 2015 juggernaut of “The Force Awakens”, which earned $652 million in the last 14 days of the year.

Arrival bounds past Robert Zemeckis’ Allied, the Brad Pitt/Marion Cotillard historical thriller, which tallies a little over $7 million across its sophomore weekend, bringing its total to $28.9 million since its November 23 premiere. Unadjusted for inflation, the film is now director Denis Villeneuve’s top earner in the region.

The weekend’s only new wide release, BH Tilt’s Incarnate, opened to an estimated $2.6 million for the weekend from 1,737 locations. The US$5 million film is being released under the Blumhouse label BH Tilt. The Darkness did, however, fall in-line with expectations, earning a healthy $10.8 millon on a modest budget as part of Tilt’s alternative releasing model.

The Christmas wave of new films began to roll out this weekend in limited release, with “Jackie” opening on just five screens nationwide and taking in $275,000, and “Lion” grossing $120,234 in seven theaters. The film, which is garnering awards buzz, was bought by Searchlight at the Toronto Film Festival in September. The film’s composer, Mica Levi, also earned recognition from the LAFCA on Sunday, receiving recognition as the critics circle’s runner-up in the Best Music Score category.

Amazon and Roadside’s Manchester by the Sea, which picked up several awards and nominations this week, earned $2.36 million this weekend as it expanded to 156 locations. But the box office for the year remains up around 4 percent.

Check out the Dec. 2-4 box office estimates below:

1. Moana – $28.4 million
2. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – $18.5 million
3. Arrival – $7.3 million
4. Allied – $7 million
5. Doctor Strange – $6.5 million
6. Trolls – $4.6 million
7. Hacksaw Ridge – $3.4 million
8. Bad Santa 2 – $3.3 million
9. Incarnate – $2.7 million
10. Almost Christmas – $2.5 million

This box office news can be discussed here

The top 10 most downloaded movies on BitTorrent are in again. ‘Ben Hur’ tops the chart this week, followed by ‘Pete’s Dragon’. ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ completes the top three.

Disney’s South Pacific animated tale Moana fell short of a Frozen-sized debut but nevertheless dominated the Thanksgiving box office with an estimated $81.1m over the five-day weekend. The well-reviewed film, about a princess’s mythical journey in ancient Polynesia, earned $55.5m from Friday to Sunday in North America, according to studio estimates. Though it didn’t match the 2013 Thanksgiving release of Frozen ($93.6m over five days in 2013), Moana scored the second-highest Turkey Day debut ever.

Falling to second was JK Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which earned $65.8m over the five-day weekend and $45.1m over the three-day weekend. The Harry Potter spinoff, from Warner Bros, has brought in $156.2m in two weeks. Overseas, Fantastic Beasts debuted in China, where its $41.1m fueled a weekend haul of $132m internationally.

Those two blockbusters far outpaced more star-driven films. The Brad Pitt-Marion Cotillard second world war romance Allied opened with a mediocre $18m over five days. The Paramount Pictures release, directed by Robert Zemeckis, cost a hefty $85m to make.

Warren Beatty’s first film in 15 years, the 1950s Hollywood comedy Rules Don’t Apply, bombed with $2.2m over the five-day weekend.

Bad Santa 2, from Broad Green and Miramax, didn’t flop as badly but it pulled in a scant $9m over five days. The sequel, again starring Billy Bob Thornton, comes 13 years after the original.

In limited release, a number of potential awards contenders packed theaters. Debuting on a handful of screens were Lion ($32,092 per-screen average), with Dev Patel, and Miss Sloane ($21,000 per-screen average), with Jessica Chastain. Expanding from four to 48 screens was Manchester by the Sea, starring Casey Affleck. It took in $1.3m with a per-screen average of $26,048.

The holiday weekend was the sixth biggest Thanksgiving at the box office, according to comScore, falling slightly behind most recent years. But the fairly strong business, led by well-reviewed tent-pole releases, continued what’s been a healthy fall season, up 4.5% from last year.

Check out the Nov. 25-27 weekend box office estimates below:

1. Moana – $55.5 million ($81.1 million five-day)
2. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – $45.1 million ($65.8 million five-day)
3. Doctor Strange – $13.4 million ($18.9 million five-day)
4. Allied – $13 million ($18 million five-day)
5. Arrival – $11.3 million ($15.6 million five-day)
6. Trolls – $10.3 million ($14.3 million five-day)
7. Almost Christmas – $7.6 million ($9.5 million five-day)
8. Bad Santa 2 – $6.1 million ($9 million five-day)
9. Hacksaw Ridge – $5.5 million ($7.7 million five-day)
10. The Edge of Seventeen $2.7 million ($4.2 million five-day)

The top 10 most downloaded movies on BitTorrent are in again. ‘Pete’s Dragon’ tops the chart this week, followed by ‘Jason Bourne’. ‘Snowden’ completes the top three.

Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling can still cast a magic spell at the box office — although not as powerful sans the Boy Who Lived, at least in North America.

Warner Bros.’ Harry Potter spinoff and prequel Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, from a script by Rowling, topped the weekend domestic box office with $75 million from 4,144 theaters, behind the openings of all eight Harry Potter movies but in line with other high-profile spinoffs, such as the Hobbit trilogy.

Disney and Marvel’s Doctor Strange continued to wow as it crossed the $570 million mark globally, and will soon overtake fellow Marvel Cinematic Universe title Iron Man ($585 million) after already topping several other MCU installments.

However, the post-presidential election bump the box office enjoyed last weekend didn’t last, as holdovers saw their usual drops. Doctor Strange, for example, fell 59 percent domestically to $17.7 million to place No. 2. Overseas, the pic took in another sturdy $26 million for a foreign total of $390 million and a global haul of $571.5 million. That includes $103 million in China, where Doctor Strange has exceeded the lifetime totals of superhero titles including Guardians of the Galaxy and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.

In North America, Fox and DreamWorks Animation’s Trolls followed with $17.5 million to pass the $100 million mark domestically and finish Sunday with a $116.2 million cume in North America and $261.3 million worldwide. Paramount release Arrival placed No. 4 with $11.8 million for a domestic total of $43.4 million. And Universal’s Almost Christmas rounded out the top five with $7 million for a domestic tally of $25.4 million.

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