“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 $50 million for the three-day period and a projected $64 million for the four-day holiday. The weekend gross pushes the space opera over the $400 million mark domestically. It currently ranks as the year’s second highest-grossing domestic release, with $425 million, behind only “Finding Dory.” “Rogue One” concludes a record-annihilating year for Disney. The studio became the first to top $7 billion in a single year, has fielded four of the five top grossing domestic releases, and should see four of its movies top $1 billion at the global box office.
“Sing,” the latest collaboration between Illumination and Universal, racked up $41.4 million during its second weekend in theaters. It is projected to earn $53.7 million for the four-day holiday weekend and has made $177.3 million stateside. It is 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.”
In third place “Passengers,” a critically derided science fiction romance with Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence, earned $16.1 million over the three-day weekend and $20.7 million over the four day. As of Sunday, its domestic haul stands at $61.4 million. With a $110 million budget and millions more spent in promotion, “Passengers” will need a lift from foreign audiences if it hopes to make money.

Source: Arab News