The Revenant storms to top of US box office

The Oscar nominated film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, is about a frontiersman fighting for survival after being attacked by a bear.

It took $16m (£11.2m) with Star Wars: The Force Awakens in second place with $14.3m (£10m).

Storm Jonas forced cinema closures in Washington DC and New York, while hundreds of others suspended showings.

Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for box office firm Rentrak, said the storm had a limited effect.

"It probably altered the box office 10 or 12 percent overall. This was never predestined to be an earth-shattering box office weekend anyway," he said.

The Revenant, directed by Alejandro G Inarritu, has taken $119.2m (£83.5m) in North America so far.

It had a limited release on Christmas Day, followed by a wide release on 8 January.

JJ Abrams' The Force Awakens has made $1.94bn globally to date and is likely to cross the $2bn (£1.36bn) mark over the next week.

Last week's number one, Kevin Hart and Ice Cube comedy Ride Along 2, dropped to third with $13m (£9.1m).

Rounding out the top five were two new entries, comedy Dirty Grandpa and The Boy, about an American nanny who finds her English family's boy is a life-sized doll.

Next week's new releases include thriller The Finest Hours starring Chris Pine, Holliday Grainger and Casey Affleck, and Kung Fu Panda 3.