'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' will break the all-time US box office record by Monday

The third weekend in theaters for "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" was another strong one. The film earned an estimated $88.30 million, according to BoxOffice.com (a record for New Year's weekend), putting it atop the weekend box office for a third consecutive week.

But many are eyeing what the film's number will be by Monday.

If estimates hold, "Force Awakens" (now at an estimated $740.27 million) will pass the lifetime domestic total of "Avatar" ($760.5 million), making the seventh "Star Wars" the all-time US box office record-holder. And doing it in only 18 days!

The Will Ferrell/Mark Wahlberg comedy "Daddy's Home" finished in the silver for a second-straight week with an estimated $29 million, but it has quietly done great business at the box office.

Though many thought it would be the duo of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler in their comedy "Sisters" that would be the counter-programming to "Star Wars," their movie hasn't grabbed audiences as "Daddy's Home." Ferrell and Wahlberg's latest comedy has earned around $20 million more, though "Sisters" has been in theaters a week longer ("Sisters" took in an estimated $12.58 million this weekend).

While Quentin Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight," came in third with an estimated $16.24 million. Marking the first weekend the gory western was in wide release, it seems the film's strong roadshow 70mm limited release starting over Christmas increased the attraction beyond Tarantino's fan base. The movie has now made over $29 million, to date (it's budgeted around $44 million, though the 70mm release was a hefty price tag as well).

Expect for "The Force Awakens" to dominate the second weekend of 2016. The only big competition it will have is Leonardo DiCaprio's "The Revenant" going into wide release. The film has had a strong limited run so far, but it would be quite a surprise if it topped "Star Wars" next weekend.

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