'Star Wars' tops DiCaprio in 'Revenant' to stay No. 1

LOS ANGELES — "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" stayed on top of the North American box office for the fourth straight weekend, beating out Leonardo DiCaprio in "The Revenant," and becoming the third-largest grossing movie in the world ever.

According to studio estimates Sunday, the adventures of Rey, Finn and stalwarts from the previous "Star Wars" films raked in $41.6 million in the U.S. and Canada and $104.3 million overseas, led by a record-breaking opening in China.

Disney distribution Executive Vice President Dave Hollis said the expected $53 million debut weekend in China was "spectacular" given the film is the first "Star Wars" episode many Chinese people have ever seen. "We're very encouraged," he said.

In the U.S. and Canada, it is the biggest movie ever and the first to pass $800 million with $812 million so far.

Its global total now stands at $1.73 billion, according to The Walt Disney Co., passing "Jurassic World," with $1.67 billion.

The film now has in its sights No. 2 "Titanic," with its $2.2 billion box office haul in 1997-98, and No. 1 "Avatar," from 2009-2010 at $2.8 billion.

Its place as the all-time biggest movie is by no means assured, according to Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst with Rentrak. "Avatar" had a smaller opening but kept ringing cash registers through awards season, something that won't be clear for "Star Wars" until the Golden Globes on Sunday night and Oscar nominations on Thursday.

"I don't think it's necessarily predestined," Dergarabedian said. "That's a big number. It's a tough number to get to. I think $2 billion is in the cards but if any movie has that potential (to be No. 1), it would certainly be 'The Force Awakens.'"

"The Revenant," a gritty R-rated movie directed by Alejandro Inarritu about an 1820s frontiersman who gets mauled by a bear, blasted through expectations of about $25 million in its first weekend of wide release with a $38 million haul, following limited showings in New York and Los Angeles in December.

Already buzzing for Oscars in categories like best director and best actor, 20th Century Fox's domestic distribution chief Chris Aronson said "The Revenant" surprisingly brought in mainstream audiences despite its at-times graphic material.

"It's very graphic, it's very real," Aronson said. "You watch this and you're going to feel cold."

Having the film open wide well after "Star Wars" was released gave it room to breathe, he said. "Now I think there's a specialness to this film that might have been lost earlier."

Of the Top 10 films this weekend, only Focus Features' "The Forest" was in theaters for the first time over the weekend, coming in fourth at $13.1 million.

Focus president of distribution Jim Orr said the horror film topped expectations. It put "Game of Thrones" star Natalie Dormer in a forest at the base of Mount Fuji renowned for suicides. The film found a younger audience skewing female that is typical of most horror films, but saw a bump Saturday from Friday, which is unusual and which Orr credited to good word of mouth.

"Hopefully that will help it leg out better than the genre normally does," he said.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," $41.6 million ($104.3 million international).

2. "The Revenant," $38 million ($20.2 million international).

3. "Daddy's Home," $15 million ($10.2 million international).

4. "The Forest," $13.1 million ($450,000 international).

5. "Sisters," $7.2 million ($3.4 million international).

6. "The Hateful Eight," $6.4 million ($12 million international).

7. "The Big Short," $6.3 million ($4.6 million international).

8. "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip," $5.5 million ($5.8 million international).

9. "Joy," $4.5 million ($7.5 million international).

10. "Concussion," $3.1 million.

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Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada), according to Rentrak:

1. "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," $104.3 million.

2. "The Revenant," $20.2 million.

3. "The Hateful Eight," $12 million.

4. "The Good Dinosaur," $12 million.

5. "Detective Chinatown," $11.8 million.

6. "Quo Vado?" $11.5 million.

7. "Daddy's Home," $10.2 million.

8. "Sherlock: The Abominable Bride," $9 million.

9. "The Peanuts Movie," $8.6 million.

10. "Joy," $7.5 million.

11. "Mr. Six," $7.5 million.

12. "Point Break," $6 million.

13. "Alvin and The Chipmunks: The Road Chip," $5.8 million.

14. "The Big Short," $4.6 million.

15. "Mojin: The Lost Legend," $4.3 million.

16. "Bridge of Spies," $3.9 million.

17. "Sisters," $3.4 million.

18. "The Danish Girl," $3.2 million.

19. "Spectre," $3.2 million.

20. "The Forest," $450,000.

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Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by 21st Century Fox; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

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Follow AP Business Writer Ryan Nakashima at https://twitter.com/rnakashi . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/ryan-nakashima