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The Big Short is seventh this weekend, but is out to only 1,585 venues, and despite the lower count, is still playing with the big boys. Paramount expanded The Big Short on Wednesday from eight venues, and on Wednesday and Thursday combined, earned $4 million. On Friday, it earned $3.8 million, and turned that into a weekend take of $10.5 million. With that lower venue count, The Big Short earned a venue average of $6,637. Despite a plot that might seem a little dry, The Big Short still managed an A- Cinemascore, and is a film I would really like to see over the holidays. The Big Short cost $28 million to make and has so far earned $16 million.

Point Break may be eighth, but even it managed a decent score. The extreme sports remake pulled in $10.2 million, and given the $105 million budget, one might have cause for concern. Point Break has already opened in China, earning $40 million in that one country alone. If it can eke out $50 million stateside, $100 million in China and $100 million from other overseas locations, this one should be closer to fine than it has any right to be.

Ninth goes to The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, which is hanging in there to gain a few extra dollars toward the end of its run. It earned $5.3 million, a 10% decline from last weekend. It has earned $264.6 million domestically and $352.2 million overseas. Creed is our 10th place film, earning $4.6 million as it declined 8% from the prior frame. It's inches away from $100 million, with a $96.3 million total.

The Hateful Eight finishes comfortably in the top 12 despite having a venue count of only 100 theaters. The Quentin Tarantino flick earned a serious $4.5 million from those 100 venues, giving it an awesome venue average of $45,366. Tarantino made this one for only $44 million, and it's going to have a long, healthy run as it heads towards awards season.

In limited release this weekend, The Danish Girl expanded to 400 venues and earned $1.5 million, giving it a venue average of $3,416. Carol expanded to 186 theaters and earned $1.1 million, giving it an average of $5,944. The big hitter though was The Revenant, which started at only four venues, and it earned $471,000 - giving it an outstanding average of $117,750.

The story of the weekend, though, is the overall box office, what with a sizzling eight films earning more than $10 million and Star Wars doing what it did. The big films did big business, and the smaller films also did big business, leading the top 12 to an almost miraculous $286.4 million.

The last time Christmas fell on a Friday, Avatar led the top 12 to $259.9 million, and last year, the top 12 came in at a mere $187.4 million. Next weekend is set to be a repeat of this weekend, as no new films enter the marketplace.

Top Ten for Weekend of December 25-27, 2015
Rank	Film	Distributor	Estimated Gross (in millions)	Weekly Change	Running Total (in millions)
1	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	Walt Disney	153.5	-38%	544.6
2	Daddy's Home	Paramout	38.8	New	38.8
3	Joy	20th Century Fox	17.5	New	17.5
4	Sisters	Universal	13.9	Even	37.1
5	Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip	20th Century Fox	12.6	-11%	39.4
6	Concussion	Sony	11.0	New	11.0
7	The Big Short	Paramount	10.5	+2681%	16.0
8	Point Break	Warner Bros.	10.2	New	10.2
9	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2	Lionsgate	5.3	-10%	264.6
10	Creed	Warner Bros.	4.6	-8%	96.3
11	The Hateful Eight	Weinstein Co.	4.5	New	4.5
12	The Good Dinosaur	Walt Disney	3.8	-13%	105.4

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