Los Angeles: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” and “Sing” loomed large at the multiplexes over the New Year’s holiday, racking up the biggest grosses and ringing out 2016 on a high note. The Star Wars spinoff topped the box office for the third consecutive weekend, earning just under $50m for the three-day period and a projected $64m for the four-day holiday.
The movie business is tacking today on to New Year’s weekend, because many companies and schools are observing it as a national holiday.
The weekend gross pushes the space opera over the $400m mark domestically. It currently ranks as the year’s second highest-grossing domestic release, with $425m, behind only “Finding Dory.”
“Rogue One” concludes a record-annihilating year for Disney. The studio became the first to top $7bn in a single year, has fielded four of the five top grossing domestic releases, and should see four of its movies top $1bn at the global box office.
“Sing,” the latest collaboration between Illumination and Universal, racked up $41.4m during its second weekend in theatres. It is projected to earn $53.7m for the four-day holiday weekend and has made $177.3m stateside. It’s the second smash of 2016 for Illumination, the maker of “Despicable Me.” The company also scored with last summer’s “The Secret Life of Pets.”
