Los Angeles (Variety.com): Disney-Lucasfilm’s “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” has cleared the $1 billion milestone in worldwide grosses in less than three weeks.

“Star Wars: The Last Jedi” pulled in $120.4 million globally on the New Year’s Eve weekend with $52.4 million at 4,232 domestic venues and $68 million internationally during the Friday-Sunday period.

“The Last Jedi” is now the eighth highest-grossing domestic movie of all time with $517.1 million -- only $15 million behind last year’s “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” in the seventh spot. On the worldwide chart, it’s now 24th with $1.04 billion, edging Universal-Illumination’s “Despicable Me 3.” The tentpole’s international total, currently at $523.2 million, will see a significant jolt when it opens on Jan. 5 in China, its final market.

“Star Wars: The Last Jedi” has also topped Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” which grossed $504 million in North America, for the top spot among 2017 releases domestically. It’s the fourth 2017 title to go past $1 billion worldwide, along with “Beauty and the Beast” at $1.26 billion, “The Fate of the Furious” at $1.24 billion and “Despicable Me 3” at $1.03 billion.

“The Last Jedi” is also winning the domestic weekend box office crown for the third time with $52.4 million, edging Sony’s “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” which took in $50.6 million at 3,765 locations for the Friday-Sunday. However, Sony’s projection showed the “Jumanji” sequel grossing $16.5 million on New Year’s Day on Monday -- well above Disney’s forecast of $13.2 million for “The Last Jedi.” Should those numbers hold, “Jumanji” would edge “Jedi” over the four-day period with $67 million, winning by $1.4 million.

“Jumanji” has been “The Last Jedi‘s” biggest competitor by far since it opened on Dec. 20. The action-comedy should wind up with an 11-day domestic total of $186.3 million by the end of Monday. The action-comedy, starring Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart, has a $90 million budget. It’s also performed impressively in international markets with $107 million thr0ugh Dec. 28.

“Jedi” and “Jumanji” helped lift the entire domestic box office for 2017 to $11.12 billion, down 2.3% from last year’s $11.38 billion and off slightly from 2015’s $11.14 billion, according to comScore. The gap for 2017 had been more than 6% at the end of the worst summer in a decade but performances by “It,” “Thor: Ragnarok,” “Justice League,” “Jedi” and “Jumanji” closed most of that margin.

Disney becomes Box Office Champ for second year in row

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com): For the second year in a row, Disney has nabbed the domestic box office crown, with $2.27 billion already banked in 2017 thanks to its one-two punch of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” and “Beauty and the Beast.”

As of Dec. 25, Disney had a 21.3% market share compared with Warner Bros. at 18.9% and $2.02 billion, according to box office tracker comScore. That gap will widen during the final days of 2017, with “The Last Jedi” dominating moviegoing.

The two studios also finished first and second in 2016, when Disney took in $2.85 billion and Warner Bros. followed with $1.88 billion. And in both years, Disney released far fewer titles than other Hollywood studios with 16 in 2016 and only 12 this year, led by its live-action “Beauty and the Beast” reboot, which remains the top domestic grosser of the year with $504 million.

Disney-Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” was the studio’s third-highest earner with $389.8 million, “Thor: Ragnarok” with $309.1 million, “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” with $172.6 million, “Coco” with $167.3 million, and “Cars 3” with $152.9 million.

Warner Bros., which released 31 titles, actually beat Disney to the $2 billion mark this year, hitting the milestone on Dec. 10. In its best domestic performance since 2009, the studio was led by “Wonder Woman” with $412 million and “It” with $327 million. The studio’s superhero tentpole “Justice League” disappointed with $223.6 million as of Dec. 26 -- the 11th-highest of 2017. Christopher Nolan’s awards contender “Dunkirk” took in $188 million domestically and “The Lego Batman Movie” scored $175.8 million.

Universal finished in third with $1.49 billion domestically and a 14% market share from 17 titles. “Despicable Me 3” was its top grosser with $264 million, followed by “The Fate of the Furious” with $225.7 million, and surprise horror hits “Get Out” with $175 million and “Split” with $138 million. “Girls Trip” broke the R-rated comedy slump and was another overperformer with $115 million.

Fox followed in fourth with $1.37 billion and a 12.8% share from a leading 38 titles. The fate of Fox is in Disney’s hands following the Dec. 14 announcement of a $52.4 billion deal for Disney to buy 21st Century Fox assets.

Fox’s top domestic performer was “Logan,” Hugh Jackman’s final movie as Wolverine, with $225 million, followed by DreamWorks Animation’s “The Boss Baby” with $175 million. “Hidden Figures” made $167 million and “War for the Planet of the Apes” grossed $148.8 million. Both “Kingsman: The Golden Circle” and “Murder on the Orient Express” finished with about $100 million each.

Sony came in fifth with $948 million for an 8.9% market share from 23 films. “Spider-Man: Homecoming” was by far its top performer with $334 million, the fifth-best domestic performer of 2017. “Baby Driver” was Sony’s only other title to top $100 million with $107.8 million, although “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” will do so this week. It’s hit $89 million in its first week.