The $61 million budget film grossed an additional $16,117,000 over the Jan. 4-6 weekend, pushing it to a total of $103,605,000 million in the U.S. The soundtrack also placed No. 1 on the Billboard Soundtracks chart during its first week of release.
Penned by Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schonberg and Herbert Kretzmer for the stage, and adapted by screenwriter William Nicholson, Les Misèrables was the highest-grossing film in American cinemas on its Dec. 25 release, earning $18 million its first day. It was the second-highest Christmas Day opening in U.S. box-office history since "Sherlock Holmes" in 2009.
Worldwide, the film has already taken in $170,705,000, according to boxofficemojo.com.
Tony Award winner Hugh Jackman (The Boy From Oz) stars as Jean Valjean, the musical's protagonist who was imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread — forever branded as prisoner number 24601 — escapes and creates a new life for himself in 1800s France. Oscar winner Russell Crowe ("Gladiator") plays Inspector Javert, who relentlessly pursues the ex-convict.
Also starring in the film are Oscar nominee Anne Hathaway ("Rachel Getting Married") as the ill-fated Fantine; Oscar nominee Helena Bonham Carter ("The King's Speech") as Madame Thenardier; Sacha Baron Cohen ("Borat") as Thenardier; Amanda Seyfried ("Mamma Mia!") as Cosette; Eddie Redmayne ("My Week With Marilyn") as Marius; West End actress Samantha Barks as Eponine, the role she played in the London production in 2010 and again in the show's 25th anniversary London concert at the O2 Arena; stage actor Aaron Tveit (Catch Me If You Can) as Enjolras; Daniel Huttleston as child-hero Gavroche; and George Blagden ("Wrath of the Titans") as student Grantaire. Original stage Valjean, Colm Wilkinson, plays the pivotal role of the Bishop of Digne in the picture. Tony Award winner Frances Ruffelle, the original Eponine in London and on Broadway, also makes an appearance in the film.
