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In addition to picking up a couple Golden Globes in the Best Director and Best Picture – Drama categories, Avatar earned another $41.3 million and took the top spot at the box office for the fifth weekend in a row.
The picture dipped only 18% to bring its domestic total to $491.8 million, while its worldwide box office reached a staggering $1.6 billion, putting it in position to surpass Titanic as the highest grossing film of all time over the next couple of weeks. At this rate, breaking the $2 billion mark isn’t entirely out of the question either.
Meanwhile, there was plenty to go around over the MLK holiday weekend, with The Book of Eli coming in 2nd with a strong $31.6 million start. That’s Denzel Washington’s second best opening weekend ever, behind only 2007’s American Gangster. Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones also expanded wide to a surprisingly decent $17 million weekend, good enough for 3rd place (though not nearly good enough to begin earning back its $100 million budget). Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel moved past Sherlock Holmes into 4th place, earning $11.5 million, while the picture starring Golden Globe-winning Robert Downey, Jr. came in 5th with $9.8 million. New release The Spy Next Door opened flatly to a 6th place debut, pulling in $9.7 million and (hopefully) urging Jackie Chan to consider some better fare. Read»
There’s just no stopping James Cameron. Avatar once again topped the box office in its fourth month of release with a $50.3 million weekend, showing only the slightest signs of slowing in the post-holiday frame. It set the mark for biggest fourth weekend gross, handily unseating the record previously held by Titanic’s $28.7 million.
Avatar’s domestic total now sits at $430.8 million, becoming the second-fastest to $400 million behind only The Dark Knight. It also officially became the highest grossing film released in 2009, besting Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’s $402.1 million mark. Internationally, Avatar performed even better than last week thanks to a record-setting opening in China that saw it claim both opening week and single day records. Its $150.5 million international haul brings its foreign total to $910.8 million, and paired with its domestic gross, Avatar now has a spectacular worldwide tally of $1.34 billion. That’s still $500 million shy of Titanic’s $1.84 billion all time mark, but Avatar is certainly making it seem at least feasible that a succession could happen.
Back in the domestic picture, Sherlock Holmes and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel continued their dead heat for next place, bringing in $16.59 million and $16.57 million, respectively, for a 2nd-3rd place photo finish. Daybreakers debuted in 4th place with a so-so $15.1 million, though the other two new wide releases struggled out of the gate. Leap Year came in 6th place with $9.2 million while Youth In Revolt limped to a 9th place finish with $6.9 million. It’s Complicated rounded out the top 5 with an $11 million take. Read»
Well, Avatar certainly doesn’t show any signs of slowing down at the box office, racking up another 1st place finish with $68.5 million for the highest grossing New Year’s weekend ever.
That mark eclipsed not only Meet the Fockers‘ previous record of $41.7 million, but earned the title of highest grossing third weekend ever, ahead of Spider-Man’s $45 million. James Cameron’s latest dipped only 9.4%, hitting the $350 million mark in only 17 days, second only to last summer’s The Dark Knight. In three weekends, Avatar has already become the second highest grossing film released in 2009 (behind only Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, which it will soon pass) and moved up to 15th on the all-time list. That’s insane. And overseas, things were even better: a $133 million international take put its foreign total up to $666.7 million. Combined with its domestic numbers, Avatar’s worldwide total in 3 weeks is $1.02 billion, making it the 4th highest-grossing picture of all time and mere days away from overtaking both Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (both final installments in huge trilogies, by the way) for 2nd place behind only (hey, how about that) Cameron’s last film, Titanic. And this is after less than a month in theaters! Sure, inflated IMAX/3D prices play a part, and the pace will probably slow now that the holidays are winding down, but come on! It sure makes all that ink we spilled about whether Avatar would be able to recoup its budget or not seem silly.
Anyway, things were pretty shiny behind Avatar too. Sherlock Holmes and the dreaded Squeakquel both posted strong holdover numbers, coming in 2nd and 3rd with $36.7 million and $35.2 million, respectively. It’s Complicated dipped the least among last weekend’s wide openers, falling only 14.9% to maintain 4th place with $18.8 million. The Blind Side kept up its impressive showing as well, rounding out the top 5 with $11.9 million, which put it past the $200 million mark. Read»
Between Christmas falling on a Friday and a slew of strong new releases, this past weekend became the highest-grossing ever as Avatar repeated at the number 1 spot with a smashing $75.6 million.
Avatar claimed the title of highest-grossing second weekend ever, narrowly edging out The Dark Knight’s $75.2 million, after dipping only 2% from its opening weekend’s numbers. $57.9 million of its Christmas haul was from 3D sites, a new record for the format. After 10 days, Avatar’s domestic total sits at a lofty $212.7 million, and with its $410.9 million foreign take, James Cameron is once again king of the world as his latest film’s worldwide total is at a staggering $623.6 million.
The new wide releases all pulled their weight, with Sherlock Holmes leading the pack. The star power of Robert Downey, Jr. helped vault the film into 2nd place with a $62.4 million bow, and its Friday take of $24.6 million handily set the new record for best Christmas day opening. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (I want to destroy that title) meanwhile defied all odds by not only being worse than the original, but out-grossing it as well. It had a weekend haul of $48.9 million for 3rd place, and tallied with its Wednesday opening, the film has hit an unconscionable five-day total of $75.6 million. Numbers like that have me living in terror that a third installment is inevitable. Thanks a lot, kids.
Nancy Meyer once again showed that romantic comedies with adults over 50 years old do, in fact, have an audience. It’s Complicated’s 4th place debut with $22.1 million outdid Meyer’s Something’s Gotta Give, anchored by Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin’s on-screen indiscretions. The Blind Side kept up its impressive run, rounding out the top 5 with $11.5 million. Read»
Updated: Variety is now reporting that Sunday numbers were stronger than expected, with Avatar’s final tally being $77.3 million to finish ahead of I Am Legend as the best December opening ever.
Despite heavy snowstorms across the American Northeast, James Cameron’s sci fi epic Avatar hauled in an estimated $73 million over the weekend to take the top spot at the box office. That figure put Avatar into the record books as the highest grossing debut ever for a non-sequel/remake/adaptation, and also made it the second-highest opening in December behind just I Am Legend’s $77.2 million back in 2007.
Heavy snowfall bombarded the East Coast over the weekend, which saw marked declines starting Saturday as the brunt of the storm hit. Still, Avatar managed to get a good number of folks to the theater, with 3D presentations accounting for about $52 million of the gross. IMAX doesn’t report its numbers until Monday, but company reps are already saying the film has broken every major IMAX record. An additional $159.18 million came in through international territories, which brought Avatar’s worldwide debut up to a whopping $232.2 million. With movies traditionally gaining steam through Christmas, Avatar is already well on its way to making back its sky-high budget and becoming another stellar blockbuster hit for Cameron.
The other new wide release, Did You Hear About The Morgans?, made virtually no noise in its opening and managed only $7 million for 4th place. Last weekend’s number 1, The Princess and the Frog, fell to second with a $12.2 million showing and brought its total to a so-so $44.8 million. The Blind Side continued its strong run and came in 3rd with $10 million, while The Twilight Saga: New Moon rounded out the top 5 with $4.4 million (and just barely edged out Invictus‘ 6th place, $4.2 million weekend). Read»
MTV’s got a new trailer up for Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes, and it’s got quips a-plenty, action in every frame, and style to boot.
Come to think of it, the Sherlock Holmes trailers that we’ve seen have been a bit of a mess plot-wise; that is, I still don’t have a very clear idea of just what the plot is. Mark Strong’s some sort of nefarious, perhaps supernatural villain, and Holmes and Watson are on the case? Anyway, they’re definitely selling chemistry and style more than anything else, especially between Robert Downey, Jr.’s Holmes and Jude Law’s Watson. And you know what? It’s enough. It totally works, and I’m ready to get to the theater just to see the two play off of each other.
The trailer finally gives Rachel McAdams something to do, though I still feel like her presence in the movie is being undersold here. Her dry delivery towards the end is one of the best moments in the trailer, and I think she’ll be just as integral a piece to Sherlock Holmes‘ entertainment and success as all the bare-knuckle brawls and one-liners.
Check out the trailer after the jump. Read»
Lots of trailers, plus some juicy news bites for some of next year’s biggest flicks. Read»
Trailers, project updates, and more goodies. See what you missed this week! Read»
