Box Office: 'Ride Along 2,' 'The Revenant' Push 'Star Wars' From First Place

By Brent Lang
LOS ANGELES, Jan 17 (Variety.com) - Its long reign is over.
After four weeks atop box office charts, Disney's "Star
Wars: The Force Awakens" has ceded first place to Universal's
"Ride Along 2." The comedy sequel picked up a leading $34
million across 3,175 venues and $39.5 million over the four-day
Martin Luther King weekend. The space opera slid to third place
with $25.1 million for the three days and roughly $30 million
for the four-day period. It has earned $851 million stateside
and $1.86 billion globally.
Universal spent $40 million re-teaming Ice Cube and Kevin
Hart. "Ride Along 2" finds the bickering police officers trying
to bring a Miami drug ring to justice.
Fox's "The Revenant" was bolstered by its strong showing at
the Oscar nominations on Thursday when the wilderness epic
picked up a leading 12 nods, including ones for Best Picture and
for the performances of stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy.
The story of a fur trapper seeking revenge racked up $29.5
million over the three days.
Its domestic total stands at $87.7 million and it should
pull in $34 million over the holiday. New Regency financed the
ambitious film, which battled production delays, crew
defections, and a budget that ballooned from $90 million to $135
million, to emerge as an awards season winner.
Paramount's "13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi"
flirted with political controversy, drawing a rebuke from a CIA
spokesman, will pulling off a solid $16 million opening over the
three days. The $50 million production will do an estimated $19
million over the holiday. It screened at 2,389 locations.
Lionsgate's "Norm Of The North" pulled in $6.7 million from
2,411 locations. The animated film about a polar bear who is
displaced from his Arctic home and makes his way to New York
City, should do $8.8 million worth of business over the four-day
span.