Star Wars: The Last Jedi to pass magic $1 billion mark

With the weekend's earnings, "The Last Jedi" will also cross the $1 billion mark globally — even before it opens in China on January 5.

"Star Wars: The Last Jedi" is expected to take in an estimated $65.6 million for the four-day holiday weekend in North America, for a total $530.3 million total since it opened there three weeks ago, said industry watcher Exhibitor Relations. That would help push Last Jedi up to the $665 million, which would land it in third place on the highest-grossing films of all time between Titanic and Avatar. The film passed "Beauty and the Beast" as the top domestic release of the year. Jungle has commanded a great $170 million so far and should have little to no problem working its way to the $275 million by the end of its domestic run.

Next was "The Greatest Showman", from Fox, at $20.3 million. The Matt Damon-starrer has earned only $17.1 million to date against a $68 million production budget. The Hugh Jackman-headliner shot up 73% this weekend to score an estimated $15.2 million from 3,316 screens. Overseas, the Bellas have brought in $29 million so far.

While Universal's "Pitch Perfect 3" didn't boost its numbers this weekend, it also posted solid numbers and will stay in third place this weekend, sitting between "Jumanji" and "Showman" with a $17.7 million 3-day/$22.7 million 4-day total, a drop off of just 14 percent that will give it a total by Monday's end of just under $70 million.

Another adult-targeted film, Alexander Payne's "Downsizing", is struggling in theaters, taking in $4.6 million in its second weekend in theaters.

"Going to the movies is truly a worldwide phenomenon", said comScore's Senior Media Analyst, Paul Dergarabedian.

The film marks the eighth installment in the "Star Wars" saga. A final domestic haul around $85 million is possible for the cartoon.