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'Ride Along 2' dethrones 'Star Wars' at the box office

'The Revenant' came in second this weekend by racking up $29.5 million. 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' fell to third after four weeks atop the charts.

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Quantrell D. Colbert/Universal Pictures via AP
Ice Cube, left, and Kevin Hart star in the film, "Ride Along 2," which opened in US theaters Friday.
  • By Brent Lang Reuters

| Los Angeles

Its long reign is over.

After four weeks atop box office charts, Disney's "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" has ceded first place to Universal's "Ride Along 2." The comedy sequel picked up a leading $34 million across 3,175 venues and $39.5 million over the four-day Martin Luther King weekend. The space opera slid to third place with $25.1 million for the three days and roughly $30 million for the four-day period. It has earned $851 million stateside and $1.86 billion globally.

Universal spent $40 million re-teaming Ice Cube and Kevin Hart. "Ride Along 2" finds the bickering police officers trying to bring a Miami drug ring to justice.

Fox's "The Revenant" was bolstered by its strong showing at the Oscar nominations on Thursday when the wilderness epic picked up a leading 12 nods, including ones for Best Picture and for the performances of stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy. The story of a fur trapper seeking revenge racked up $29.5 million over the three days.

Its domestic total stands at $87.7 million and it should pull in $34 million over the holiday. New Regency financed the ambitious film, which battled production delays, crew defections, and a budget that ballooned from $90 million to $135 million, to emerge as an awards season winner.

Paramount's "13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi" flirted with political controversy, drawing a rebuke from a CIA spokesman, while pulling off a solid $16 million opening over the three days. The $50 million production will do an estimated $19 million over the holiday. It screened at 2,389 locations.

Lionsgate's "Norm Of The North" pulled in $6.7 million from 2,411 locations. The animated film about a polar bear who is displaced from his Arctic home and makes his way to New York City, should do $8.8 million worth of business over the four-day span.

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