‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Barreling Towards ‘Avatar’s’ Record

LOS ANGELES, (Variety.com) – Having vanquished “Titanic” and “Jurassic World,” “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” has set its sights on “Avatar.”

The space opera sequel is moving up the all-time domestic box office charts at a record clip and now is poised to overtake those pointy eared blue aliens as the top grossing film in history. “Avatar” earned $760.5 million during its stateside run and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” has generated $740.4 million domestically after picking up $88.3 million over New Year’s weekend. It should take the crown from “Avatar” early next week.

Even as “The Force Awakens” commanded the bulk of box office revenues a few films managed to profit from the holiday season. Paramount’s “Daddy’s Home,” a comedy about a nerdy stepfather (Will Ferrell) who finds himself outshone by his wife’s first husband (Mark Wahlberg), picked up $29 million in its second weekend, driving the film’s domestic total to $93.7 million.

The Weinstein Company did relatively well after moving up the wide release of “The Hateful Eight” by a week. The revisionist western from Quentin Tarantino racked up $16.2 million to finish in third place, a solid start, though on the lower-end for wide-release debuts from the director. “The Hateful Eight” trails the $30.1 million launch for “Django Unchained” or the $38 million kickoff for “Inglourious Basterds.” It has made $29.6 million since debuting in a limited number of 70mm theaters over Christmas.

Universal’s “Sisters,” a Tina Fey and Amy Poehler pairing, continued to show impressive endurance, snagging fourth place with $12.6 million.

The film has made $61.7 million in three weeks of release, putting it ahead of Fey and Poehler’s previous teaming on “Baby Mama,” which made $60.5 million during its run in 2008.