Star Wars passes Beauty and the Beast to top 2017 box office

On the last day of the calendar year, Star Wars: The Last Jedihas surpassed Beauty and the Beastas the top grossing film in North America in 2017.

It also topped the charts for the weekend for the third time, but just barely Dwayne Johnson's Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungleis close on its tail.

According to studio estimates on Sunday, The Last Jediwill add $52.4 million US over the weekend bringing its domestic total to $517.1 million. Beauty and the Beast,also a Disney release, netted out with $504 million for the year.

With the weekend's earnings, The Last Jedi will also cross the $1 billion mark globally even before it opens in China on Jan. 5.

But Star Warsis facing some hefty competition still, from the likes of The Rock, Jack Black and Kevin Hart, whose Jumanjisequel took in $50.6 million in its second weekend in theatres to take second place. The Columbia Pictures film has earned a stunning $169.8 million to date and could even reach $300 million domestically by the end of its run.

The acapella franchise Pitch Perfect 3took third place in weekend two, with $17.8 million, bringing its total to $64.3 million still less than what Pitch Perfect 2earned on its opening weekend alone in May 2015 ($69.2 million).

Another musical, The Greatest Showman,with Hugh Jackman as P.T. Barnum, came in fourth place with $15.3 million after adding 310 screens. The animated kids film Ferdinandtook fifth with $11.7 million.

In its first weekend in theatres after debuting on Christmas Day, Ridley Scott's All the Money in the Worldtook in $5.5 million, bringing its total to $12.6 million. The film got some added recognition when Scott replaced Kevin Spacey with Christopher Plummer and re-shot portions of the film only 6 weeks before it was set to hit theatres. But the hype of the impressive feat hasn't translated into big earnings.

Ridley Scott and Christopher Plummer discuss swapping actors

7 years ago

Duration 1:22

The director of All the Money in the World explains how Kevin Spacey was replaced

Another adult-targeted film, Alexander Payne's Downsizing,is struggling in theatres, taking in $4.6 million in its second weekend.The Matt Damon-led moviehas earned only $17.1 million to date against a $68 million production budget.

In limited release, Aaron Sorkin's Molly's Game,starring Jessica Chastain, earned $2.33 million. The film about the "poker princess" Molly Bloom expands on Jan. 5. And Paul Thomas Anderson's Phantom Threadearned $220,000 from four theatres over the weekend after its Christmas opening. Starring Daniel Day-Lewis as a designer, Phantom Threadhas grossed $531,000 to date.

"As end of year marketplaces go, this is a great time to be a movie-goer," said Paul Dergarabedian, a senior media analyst for comScore. "There are so many movies out there, the only trick is how do you see all of them."

The year as a whole will surpass $11 billion again, with comScore projecting $11.12 billion, which is down 2.3 percent from last year's record-breaking grosses ($11.4 billion), and almost on par with 2015's $11.14 billion.

"We actually had a really great end of year surge," Dergarabedian said. "Star Warsadding about a half billion dollars didn't hurt. But Star Warsdidn't do this alone. It's not just about the big movies at the top, it's also about the smaller movies that provided a really great foundation. Every dollar counts."

Estimated ticket sales are for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to comScore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.