AVATAR Continues To Steamroll At The Box Office
To utterly no one’s surprise, Avatar won the weekend yet again in its 7th week of release. Pulling in $31.3 million, the sci fi epic’s total reached $595.8 million and is mere days away from surpassing Titanic’s $600.8 million mark to claim the title of highest domestic gross of all time.
James Cameron’s box office juggernaut brought its foreign total to $1.45 billion and crossed the $2 billion worldwide mark, where it already has claim to to highest worldwide gross (though not the highest attendance – remember, a large part of Avatar’s box office receipts come from inflated 3D ticket pricing). Meanwhile, Mel Gibson’s return to acting Edge of Darkness made a very average debut at the box office, pulling in $17.2 million for 2nd place. When in Rome, the other new wide release, came in 3rd with a similarly unremarkable $12.4 million. The Tooth Fairy showed an above-average resiliency, falling 28.6% in its second weekend to take 4th place with $10 million. The Book of Eli rounded out the top 5 with a $8.9 million gross, bringing its total to $74.5 million.
Next week, two wildly different newcomers will inevitably vie for second place. Taken director Pierre Morel’s zany action-comedy From Paris with Love will compete with Nicholas Sparks’ latest romance Dear John. From Paris with Love will definitely play broader, and Morel’s Taken cred may be enough to trump some lukewarm early reviews, so I expect it to finish ahead of Dear John. The record stands at 7 for 11.
Check out this week’s top 12 below, or head on over to Box Office Mojo for the full weekend chart:
New releases highlighted in yellow
| TW | LW | Title (click to view) | Studio | Weekend Gross | % Change | Theater Count / Change | Average | Total Gross | Budget* | Week # | |
| 1 | 1 | Avatar | Fox | $31,280,029 | -10.5% | 3,074 | -67 | $10,176 | $595,752,416 | - | 7 |
| 2 | N | Edge of Darkness | WB | $17,214,384 | - | 3,066 | - | $5,615 | $17,214,384 | $80 | 1 |
| 3 | N | When in Rome | BV | $12,350,041 | - | 2,456 | - | $5,029 | $12,350,041 | - | 1 |
| 4 | 4 | The Tooth Fairy | Fox | $9,998,109 | -28.6% | 3,345 | +1 | $2,989 | $26,104,387 | $48 | 2 |
| 5 | 3 | The Book of Eli | WB | $8,908,286 | -43.4% | 3,075 | -36 | $2,897 | $74,511,765 | $80 | 3 |
| 6 | 2 | Legion (2010) | SGem | $7,176,375 | -59.0% | 2,476 | - | $2,898 | $29,022,786 | $26 | 2 |
| 7 | 5 | The Lovely Bones | P/DW | $4,726,828 | -43.8% | 2,638 | +67 | $1,792 | $38,005,738 | $65 | 8 |
| 8 | 6 | Sherlock Holmes | WB | $4,515,344 | -31.9% | 2,250 | -420 | $2,007 | $197,601,522 | $90 | 6 |
| 9 | 7 | Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel | Fox | $3,997,136 | -37.6% | 2,526 | -447 | $1,582 | $209,294,997 | $75 | 6 |
| 10 | 9 | It’s Complicated | Uni. | $3,804,215 | -34.5% | 2,096 | -205 | $1,815 | $104,111,035 | $85 | 6 |
| 11 | 11 | The Blind Side | WB | $3,021,317 | -27.5% | 1,751 | -181 | $1,725 | $237,914,805 | $29 | 11 |
| 12 | 12 | Up in the Air | Par. | $2,801,141 | -28.2% | 1,430 | -277 | $1,959 | $73,273,311 | $25 | 9 |
Tags: Avatar, Box Office, Dear John, Edge of Darkness, From Paris with Love, The Book of Eli, The Tooth Fairy, When In Rome
