Leonardo DiCaprio’s star power helped harrowing Oscar-tipped western The Revenant to challenge Star Wars: The Force Awakens for the top spot at the North American box office last weekend.
Alejandro González Iñárritu’s grim frontiersman tale scored a remarkable $38m in its first weekend on wide release, only just behind The Force Awakens’ $41.6m at No 1. The huge success story for the $135m film, whose budget ballooned from around $90m after a troubled and controversial production process, came on the same weekend that DiCaprio was named best actor in a drama at the Golden Globes for his lead role. The Titanic star plays a 19th-century guide, Hugh Glass, who sets out for revenge after being left for dead following a brutal bear attack in the unsettled wilderness of the Louisiana Purchase.
The Hollywood Reporter said The Revenant had “vastly overperformed in its nationwide expansion thanks in no small measure to Leonardo DiCaprio’s star power”, while Variety described the actor as “one of the few consistent box-office draws in an era when star power is at its nadir”. Added Deadline: “Here’s what’s mindblowing: This is a gritty, bloody western that at a glance may look tough to sit through.”
“This was an incredibly difficult movie to sell,” studio executive Chris Aronson of 20th Century Fox told Variety. “[DiCaprio] has been in a lot of quality movies, but if you went in blindly, I don’t think you would say this is going to be one of the more commercial ones, but that’s where it’s going to end up.”
The Revenant now appears brilliantly positioned for next month’s Oscars, with Iñárritu also named best director (drama) at the Golden Globes.
The only other new film to make this week’s top 10 was horror The Forest, starring Game of Thrones’ Natalie Dormer as a young woman who heads into a notorious Japanese “suicide forest” in search of her missing identical twin sister. Jason Zada’s film, which has been poorly reviewed, landed in fourth place with $13.1m on debut.
North American box office, 8-10 January
1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens: $41.6m. Total: $812m
2. The Revenant: $38m. Total: $39.6m
3. Daddy’s Home: $15m. Total: $116.3m
4. The Forest: $13.1m. Total: $13.1m
5. Sisters: $7.2m. Total: $73.9m
6. The Hateful Eight: $6.4m. Total: $41.4m
7. The Big Short: $6.3m. Total: $42.8m
8. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip: $5.5m. Total: $75.6m
9. Joy: $4.5m. Total: $46.6m
10. Concussion: $3.1m. Total: $31m
