Winter Storm Jonas deluged much of the East Coast of America and further inland this weekend, which meant that moviegoing was naturally affected. None of the week's newcomers made much of an impact on the charts, but The Revenant expanded its cinema count and surged to the top of the US box office with an estimated $16 million.
Riding high on awards attention (and potentially the rest of the country trying to find empathy with those battling the snowstorm), Alejandro González Iñárritu's latest overtook both Star Wars: The Force Awakens and last week's champ, Ride Along 2, to win the box office crown in its fifth week in the charts. The film, which cost around $135 million to make, has now taken $119.1 million in the States and more than $178 million globally. It also stands as easily Iñárritu's most successful film, besting previous top dog Birdman.
And though it has started to shed screens, Star Wars: The Force Awakens managed to see off the competition and squeeze past the Ride Along sequel to take back second place with $14.2 million. The film is now creeping ever closer to $900 million in the US alone, but may have more of a struggle to reach $1 billion. Still, it's best not to underestimate the power of the Force. Ride Along 2 slipped to third, adding $12.9 million.
The "best" (not according to its reviews) of the new releases was Robert De Niro and Zac Efron joke-fest Dirty Grandpa, which was torn to shreds by critics and opened with $11.5 million in fourth. That was ahead of new creepy doll horror movie The Boy, which earned $11.2 million. And both of those were better than the latest attempt to turn a YA book series into a movie franchise as The 5th Wave took in $10.7 million. It might need some help from overseas audiences if there is to be a sixth wave.
Michael Bay's 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers Of Benghazi was down to seventh with $9.7 million, while Daddy's Home dropped a few places to eighth and $5.2 million. In ninth we find animated adventure Norm Of The North on $4.1 million, while The Big Short, after seven weeks in the charts, slipped to 10th place and $3.5 million. We may see Adam McKay's financial comedy drama resurgent if it picks up some more awards.