Ride Along 2 Box Office

Photo: Universal Studios

Box office: 'Ride Along 2' coasts to No. 1 - Star Wars: The Force Awakens hit a minor speed bump at the box office.

The sci-fi blockbuster ended its four-week run at No. 1 over the Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend, relinquishing the throne to Ride Along 2, which cruised to $34 million, according to estimates from box-office tracking firm Rentrak.

"It's inevitable — no movie can stay No 1 forever," Rentrak senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian says. "There are no tears being shed over at Disney. They rewrote the record books with Star Wars," which fell to third place this weekend, but still managed $25.1 million.

Force has now amassed $851 million in the USA since mid-December and nearly $1.9 billion worldwide, making it the third-highest-grossing movie ever behind Avatar ($2.8 billion) and Titanic ($2.2 billion). But could the record-breaking franchise entry eventually overtake James Cameron's juggernauts?

"Avatar is a billion dollars away — that's a lot of box office," Dergarabedian says. It should easily enter the $2 billion club, "but where it ends up in that very rarefied air remains to be seen. The most impressive thing is the speed at which it's broken these records."

Box-office champ Ride Along 2 opened below the $41.5 million its predecessor made the same weekend in January 2014. That movie also starred Kevin Hart and Ice Cube, and became a sleeper hit with $134.9 million total, despite abysmal reviews. Ride Along 2 was similarly panned by critics, earning just 14% positive reviews on aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes; audiences liked it better, giving the movie a 65% approval rating.

After leading the Oscar nominations with 12 nods Thursday, The Revenant persisted with an impressive $29.5 million and a No. 2 finish in its second weekend of wide release. The wilderness survival film starring Leonardo DiCaprio earned Golden Globe Awards last weekend for best actor in a drama (DiCaprio), director (Alejandro González Iñárritu) and movie drama and has overperformed with $87.7 million so far.

Boosted by DiCaprio's star appeal, "there's no question that it's going to ride this wave of awards season buzz — the momentum is just building," Dergarabedian says. "Oscar nominations are never a bad thing, and for those that may be on the fence about seeing the movie, 12 nominations is a pretty healthy motivator."

Rounding out the top five, Michael Bay's 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi launched with $16 million in fourth place, well below the national releases of other true-life modern war films American Sniper ($89.3 million) and Lone Survivor ($37.8 million) in previous Januarys. Meanwhile, Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg's Daddy's Home held strong with $9.3 million ($129.3 million to date) in fifth place.