'Ride Along 2' cruises to US title on $41.6m

Ride Along 2 stars Ice Cube and Kevin Hart and over the four-day Martin Luther King Jr holiday weekend it opened maringally ahead of the original’s $41.5m debut two years ago when unadjusted for inflation.

Fox/New Regency’s The Revenant is making hay while the sun shines and used its 12 Oscar nominations and three Golden Globe wins (including one for best dramatic film) to stay in second place and add $39m for $97.2m.

This is by far Mexican director Alejandro G Ińárritu’s biggest ever film at the North American box office.

Meanwhile Disney/Lucasfilm’s The Force Awakens added $32.6m for $858.5m via Buena Vista and reach $1.87bn worldwide.

Paramount released the Michael Bay thriller 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers Of Benghazi at number four on $19.7m from 2,389 theatres and centres on the 2012 attack by Islamic militants on a US compound in Libya that killed US Ambassador J Christopher Stevens and one other diplomat.

The film has stoked controvery by reviving the partisan debate over whether the US Administration ignored warnings of a possible attack.

Lionsgate’s animation pick-up Norm Of The North arrived in sixth place on a lacklustre $9.3m from 2,411 sites.

Oscar nominees earned predictable box office bumps. Fox Searchlight expanded Brooklyn from 393 to 687 sites and the drama added $2.2m for $25.2m after 11 weekends, jumping three places to number 13.

Room climbed 13 places to number 20 after expanding from 88 to 293 and grossed $893,000 for $6.2m via A24 after 14, while Open Road expanded Spotlight by 617 to 985 and the drama added $2.1m for $31.1m after 11 and climbe three to number 14.

Overall box office for the top 12 amounted to $185.1m.

This week’s wide releases are comedy Dirty Grandpa starring Robert De Niro and Zac Efron via Lionsgate; Columbia’s thriller The 5th Wave with Chloe Moretz; and STX Entertainment’s horror The Boy.

Confirmed top six North America January 15-18, 2016
Film (Dist) / Conf wkd gross / Conf total to date

1 (-) Ride Along 2 (Universal) Universal Pictures International $41.6m –

2 (2) The Revenant (Fox) Fox International $39m $97.2m

3 (1) Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Buena Vista) Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International $32.6m $858.5m

4 (-) 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers Of Benghazi (Paramount) Paramount Pictures International $19.7m –

5 (3) Daddy’s Home (Paramount) Paramount Pictures International $12m $131.9m

6 (-) Norm Of The North (Lionsgate) Good Universe $9.3m –

7 (4) The Forest (Gramercy Pictures) (Good Universe/Sony Pictures Releasing International) $7m $22.3m

8 (7) The Big Short (Paramount) Paramount Pictures International $6.5m $51.8m

9 (5) Sisters (Universal) Universal Pictures International $5.5m $82.9m

10 (6) The Hateful Eight (TWC) TWC International $4.4m $48.6m