'Star Wars,' 'The Revenant' rule North American box office

Star Wars: The Force Awakens" maintained its place a the top of the North American box office at the weekend while revenge thriller "The Revenant" trailed closely behind.
The space epic raked in $42.4 million, box office tracker Exhibitor Relations said, while "The Revenant" earned $39.8 million.

Over the weekend, Disney said that the latest installment of "Star Wars" had surged to third place in all-time global box office receipts, overtaking "Jurassic World" after a blockbuster debut in China that pushed its total to $1.73 billion.

The movie has dominated the North American box office for a fourth consecutive weekend, becoming that market's top grossing film of all time with $812.7 million in cumulative sales.

This was the third week "The Revenant" has been in North American movie theaters, but only its first week in wide release.

The movie, about a legendary fur trapper played by Leonardo DiCaprio, walked away with three awards from the Golden Globes on Sunday and it is expected to earn DiCaprio his first Oscar.

Third place at the box office went to "Daddy's Home," a sharp-edged comedy about the uncomfortable competition between a stepfather, played by Will Ferrell, and the biological father, Mark Wahlberg.

Also in its third week in theaters, it made $15 million.

Number four was "The Forest," a low-budget horror film starring Natalie Dormer and Taylor Kinney, which made $12.7 million in its first weekend in theaters.

Fifth on the list was "Sisters," with Amy Poehler and Tina Fey, which made $7.2 million in its fourth week out.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

- "The Hateful Eight" ($6.4 million)

- "The Big Short" ($6.2 million)

- "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip" ($5.7 million)

- "Joy" ($4.5 million)

- "Concussion" ($3 million)