Box Office: 'Ride Along 2' Beating 'Star Wars,' 'The Revenant' on Friday

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As expected, Ride Along 2 is cruising past the competition at the Friday box office to likely win the long Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend.

Two years ago, Ride Along opened to $48.6 million over the same four-day holiday weekend. The sequel, however, faces far more competition, including Star Wars: The Force Awakens, awards frontrunner The Revenant, and new entries 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi and family film Norm of the North.

Early returns show Ride Along 2, which sees stars Kevin Hart and Ice Cube reuniting, earning $40 million for the four-day weekend, including a Friday haul of around $11 million. If it comes in closer to $38 million, it could find itself in a close race with The Revenant.

Ride Along 2 sees the soon-to-be-wed Ben (Hart) heading to Miami with his soon-to-be brother-in-law James (Cube) to bring down a drug dealer who’s supplying the dealers of Atlanta with product. Will Packer, Ice Cube, Matt Alvarez, Larry Brezner and J.C. Spink produced the sequel, which is directed by Tim Story.

The Revenant, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and directed by Alejandro G. Inarritu, picked up 12 Oscar nominations Thursday after winning best picture, best director and best actor at last weekend’s Golden Globes ceremony for Fox and New Regency.

Force Awakens, now in its fifth weekend, finished Thursday with a massive $825.9 million domestically and $1.79 billion globally. The Disney and Lucasfilm title has won the box-office race for four consecutive weekends, and looks to earn another $34 million over MLK weekend.

Michael Bay’s patriotic-themed 13 Hours looks to open in the low $20 million range to come in No. 4. The Paramount movie, targeting conservative moviegoers and costing $50 million, stars John Krasinski and James Badge Dale. 13 Hours looks to open on par with Lone Survivor, which debuted to $22 million on the same weekend in 2014. A year ago, Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper launched to a massive $107.2 million over the four-day holiday weekend.

13 Hours recounts the 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. Embassy compound in Benghazi that left four dead, including U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens. Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who was then Secretary of State, has come under fierce attack from Republican rivals for security lapses at the compound. The movie does not refer to Clinton, but is still expected to be politically divisive.

Norm of the North, from Lionsgate, is pacing to earn $8 million for the four-day weekend.

Among other Oscar best-picture contenders, Adam McKay’s The Big Short also hopes for an awards bump since it is relatively new at the cineplex (it opened nationwide Dec. 23). The movie has grossed $44.6 million to date for Paramount and New Regency, and is looking to add another $6 million over the holiday weekend.

Prospects for best-picture contenders Brooklyn, Room and Spotlight are trickier since they have been in theaters longer, even if they were never given wide, saturated releases. All three films are adding theaters this weekend.