‘The Revenant’ Braves the Blizzard With $16M at Box Office

Leonardo DiCaprio stars in "The Revenant," an immersive and visceral cinematic experience capturing one man’s epic adventure of survival and the extraordinary power of the human spirit. (Twentieth Century Fox/© 2015 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation/Regency Entertainment USA, Inc./Monarcy Enterprises S.a.r.l.)

NEW YORK— The snowy frontier saga “The Revenant” weathered a blizzard-ravaged box office.

Weekend movie-going was affected up and down the East Coast by Winter Storm Jonas, which forced theater closures in Washington D.C. and New York, and caused hundreds of theaters to suspend showings. Studio executives said the storm had a major effect on business.

“It had a huge effect on the entire marketplace,” said Kevin Grayson, head of domestic distribution for STX Entertainment, which debuted the horror thriller “The Boy.” ‘'Anywhere from 300 to 400 theaters were affected.”

Fittingly, the film that most flourished in the frigid winter weather was 20th Century Fox’s Oscar-nominated “Revenant,” which took in an estimated $16 million in its third week of wide release. The Alejandro Inarritu-directed thriller, set in the 1820s, is proving to be one of Leonardo DiCaprio’s biggest hits with $119.2 million in North America thus far. It was also the top film internationally over the weekend with $33.8 million.

Tom Hardy hunts for the person he had left for dead, in "The Revenant." (Twentieth Century Fox/© 2015 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation/Regency Entertainment USA, Inc./Monarcy Enterprises S.a.r.l.)

Disney’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” came in second with $14.3 million in its sixth week of release. “The Force Awakens,” with $1.94 billion globally to date, will likely cross $2 billion in the next week.

Last week’s No. 1 movie, the Kevin Hart-Ice Cube comedy “Ride Along 2,” dropped steeply in its second week, sliding to third with $13 million for Universal.

Those holdovers were trailed by a trio of new releases: “Dirty Grandpa,” ‘'The Boy“ and ”The 5th Wave,” which all earned $10 million to $12 million over the weekend.

Kevin Hart, left, as Ben Barber and Ice Cube as James Payton in a scene from the film, "Ride Along 2." The movie opened in U.S. theaters on Jan. 15, 2016. (Quantrell D. Colbert/Universal Pictures via AP)

Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for box-office firm Rentrak, said the storm had an effect, but cautioned against overestimating its impact.

“It probably altered the box office 10 or 12 percent overall,” Dergarabedian said. “This was never predestined to be an earth-shattering box office weekend, anyway.”

Lionsgate’s “Dirty Grandpa,” starring Robert De Niro and Zac Efron, received some of the harshest reviews of the year. It narrowly edged out the other newcomers with an estimated $11.5 million.

(AP Photo/LucasFilm, Disney)

“The Boy,” a PG-13 rated supernatural tale that cost only about $10 million to make, earned an estimated $11.3 million. It appealed strongly to Latino moviegoers, which made up 41 percent of the audience, according to STX.

Sony’s “The 5th Wave,” which cost about $38 million to make, is a young-adult adaption from the first of Rick Yancey’s trilogy of science-fiction books about alien invasion. Starring Chloe Grace Moretz, “The 5th Wave” $10.7 million debut didn’t suggest a budding YA franchise. But Rory Bruer, head of distribution for Sony, was upbeat about the result and said it came in “ahead of our expectations with the storm.”

Chloe Grace Moretz as Cassie Sullivan in a scene from the film, "The Fifth Wave." The movie opens in U.S. theaters on Jan. 22, 2016. (Chuck Zlotnick/Columbia Pictures via AP)

“Jonas was certainly no friend to the movie industry,” Bruer 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. “The Revenant,” $16 million ($33.8 million international).

3. “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” $14.3 million ($23.3 million international).

3. “Ride Along 2,” $13 million ($6.5 million international).

4. “Dirty Grandpa,” $11.5 million ($2 million international).

5. “The Boy,” $11.3 million ($750,000 international).

6. “The 5th Wave,” $10.7 million ($15.9 million international).

7. “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi,” $9.8 million.

8. “Daddy’s Home,” $5.3 million ($5.9 million international).

9. “Norm of the North,” $4.1 million.

10. “The Big Short,” $3.5 million ($10.1 million international).

(L–R) Jeremy Strong plays Vinnie Daniel, Rafe Spall plays Danny Moses, Hamish Linklater plays Porter Collins, Steve Carell plays Mark Baum, Jeffry Griffin plays Chris and Ryan Gosling plays Jared Vennett in "The Big Short" (Jaap Buitendijk/© 2015 Paramount Pictures/Regency Enterprises)

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

1. “The Revenant,” $33.8 million.

2. “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” $23.3 million.

3. “The 5th Wave,” $15.9 million.

4. “The Big Short,” $10.1 million.

5. “Creed,” $9.1 million.

6. “The Hateful Eight,” $7.5 million.

7. “The Walk,” $6.7 million.

8. “Ride Along 2,” $6.5 million.

9. “Boonie Bears III,” $6 million.

10. “Daddy’s Home,” $5.9 million.