‘The Revenant’ braves the blizzard with $16M at box office

NEW YORK (AP) – The snowy frontier saga “The Revenant” fared best at a blizzard-ravaged box office.

Weekend moviegoing was affected up and down the East Coast by Winter Storm Jonas, which forced theater closures in Washington D.C. and New York, and caused hundreds of theaters to suspend showings. Studio executives said the storm had a major effect on business.

Fittingly, the film that survived best in the snow was the Oscar-nominated “Revenant,” which took in an estimated $16 million in its third week of wide-release. “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” came in second with $14.3 million. Last week’s no. 1, the Kevin Hart-Ice Cube comedy “Ride Along 2,” slid to third with $13 million.

Those holdovers were trailed by a trio of new releases: “Dirty Grandpa,” ”The Boy” and “The 5th Wave.”