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AVATAR Dazzles Holmes

Avatar takes down Sherlock Holmes at box office.

By Jarrod Sarafin     December 27, 2009


AVATAR
© Mania

 

With families across the nation coming together to celebrate and three new wide releases hitting the market, there was question as to whether we would have a new box office champion for this report. After Friday’s numbers came in with Sherlock Holmes leading in 1st place by merely a million over Avatar, it seemed like it would be a close race for that coveted Christmas prize. But it was all Avatar from that point forward with James Cameron’s sci-fi epic bouncing ahead on Saturday and Sunday as well as winning its second report in a row.
20th Century Fox’s Avatar finished the weekend ahead of the pack, pulling in another $75 million on 3,456 theaters across the nation. Those type of numbers means the film dropped only 2.6% from its debut weekend and has its overall domestic tally at $212.2 million. The film also won the global box office race to increase its foreign gross to $402.9 million. After just 10 days of distribution, Cameron’s film has a worldwide gross of $615 million and since there’s no new wide releases set for next weekend, expect those numbers to jump to the $700-$800 million range by next report.
Warner Bros. Pictures Sherlock Holmes followed in 2nd place by taking in $65.3 million over its first three days of release. The film looked like it could have a shot to keep pace with Avatar and win its first weekend off Friday’s $24.7 million score but it managed only $21.9 off Saturday and another $18.6 estimated from today, giving Avatar the momentum to retain its 1st place spot.
20th Century Fox executives clearly have something to celebrate for the holiday with Avatar dominating and their latest family flick Alvin and Chipmunks: The Squeakquel also managing decent numbers in its opening weekend. The CG sequel was the only film who opened on Wednesday, grabbing $18.8 mil on its first day and another $8.0 mil on Thursday. For the weekend, it pulled in $50.2 million to increase its overall domestic cume to $77.0 million. Looks like another solid release for 20th Century Fox.
Universal Pictures’ It’s Complicated is the final new wide release of the weekend it took down the 4th place spot with $22.1 million on 2,887 theaters across the nation.
Check out the rest of the top 10’s numbers down below.
 

Rank
Movie
Weekend
Theaters
Average
Total
Budget
1
Avatar
$75.0 mil
3,456
$21,701
$212.2 mil
$250
2
Sherlock Holmes
$65.3 mil
3,626
$18,031
$65.3 mil
----
3
Alvin and the Chipmunks 2
$50.2 mil
3,700
$13,568
$77.0 mil
----
4
It’s Complicated
$22.1 mil
2,887
$7,660
$22.1 mil
----
5
Up in the Air
$11.7 mil
1,895
$6,203
$24.5 mil
$25
6
The Blind Side
$11.7 mil
2,766
$4,241
$184.3 mil
$29
7
The Princess and the Frog
$8.6 mil
3,475
$2,499
$63.3 mil
$105
8
Nine
$5.5 mil
1,412
$3,926
$5.9 mil
$80
9
Did You Hear About the Morgans?
$5.0 mil
2,718
$1,840
$15.5 mil
$58
10
Invictus
$4.3 mil
2,160
$2,032
$23.3 mil
60

 
The Christmas releases and Avatar will have another weekend to pad their domestic tallies with no wide distributions attached to next weekend. Instead, the studios are waiting two weekends before introducing their January line-ups.
Will Avatar win for a third weekend in a row or will Sherlock Holmes take down the crown next weekend while the world celebrates the coming of 2010? We shall see.
 
And everyone have a safe new year!
 
Friday January 8, 2010 Releases
Wide
Daybreakers
Leap Year
Youth in Revolt
Limited
Crazy on the Outside
Waiting for Armageddon
Wonderful World

MOVIES REVIEWS

COMMENTS AND RESPONSES

Showing items 1 - 10 of 49
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Riddick316 12/27/2009 4:26:46 PM

Wow!  600 million dollars,and maybe 800 million......  Is that a lot?  :o)

I'm going tomorrow to see it for the 1st time. I'll add a little more to the total.

Wiseguy 12/27/2009 4:38:32 PM

I always felt pretty good about AVATAR reaching that 500mil worldwide mark but now I think the billion dollar mark is not out of the question at all. I can see AVATAR staying on top for another 2weeks til The Book of Eli comes out unless Holmes really picks up.

Saw Holmes, thought it was a fun movie but not a repeat viewer for me like AVATAR. Saw AVATAR again in regular format and still loved it. Of course the I-Max 3D made it feel like I was watching from a window but the film works even without 3D. But the fact that you know you're missing that extra is what makes some feel let down IMO

Planning on visiting the digital I-Max to see what the fuzz is all about during the week.

To borrow a phrase from hanso and gamers

AVATAR FTW, bitches
 

hanso 12/27/2009 4:41:26 PM

Damn son, 3% drop and beating out the top two releases this weekend.  Impressive, most impressive.  Not bad for the Ferngully, Dancing with Smurfs, Delgo knock off huh haters?  Booyeaaaaa!

Hey yo Wise, Happy Holidays my brotha.  Did you see that cat saying Avatar was another Watchmen?  The holidays making people crazy son.

noahbody 12/27/2009 4:41:39 PM

Waiting to see Avatar until next week, when the kiddies are back in school and holiday vacations are done.

dragon261 12/27/2009 4:45:16 PM

I finally got around to seeing it today you won't be disappointed a truly awesome movie. In 3D the scene where they're flying down the cliff wall is so spectacular you get a bit of vertigo. The flying scenes alone are worth the price of admission IMHO.

Wiseguy 12/27/2009 5:10:29 PM

hanso, Happy Holidays to you too and to all our fellow maniacs, even the naysayers, no no, especially the naysayers.

Yeah, hanso I saw that. I don't know what the fuck that dude put in his eggnog but it must've been some of that Bacardi 151

plahplahplahplahplahplahplahplahplahplahplahplahplahplahplahplahplahplahplahplah

Wtf is that noise you say? That's James Cameron smacking all the haters in the face with his penis
 

JarrodSarafin 12/27/2009 5:26:35 PM

Hah Hanso, I'd say after two viewings of Avatar, the movie really is Ferngully meets Dancing with Smurfs meets Delgo. But all that said, it was a fun experience to watch on the big screen in 3D. Well worth the trip to the theaters.

Even you would have to admit that Cameron made a bit too many references to his previous films in it though. Even the True Lies moment. Aliens all over the place from the closing line of the film to Weaver confronting Giovanni...I almost halfway heard "Families, Burke! Families!"

But still a great experience. Like Wiseguy, I'm thinking about the billion mark. I don't see it happening but next weekend with no releases certainly helps the chances. I'm thinking it will stop between $930-$950 worldwide much like the recent Potter releases but we shall see...

iceman71 12/27/2009 5:34:05 PM

like i said previously, that giant has legs that walk this earth, one end to the other...:)

hanso 12/27/2009 5:55:38 PM

Jarrod you beautiful merry chirstmasing jolly basterd, I would be happy to admit whatever it is you think I should admit if I could only remember off the top my head the man's films.  Last one I recently saw was T2.  I honestly can say I didnt think about any his other films as I was watching Avatar but if I get a chance to revisit his past work I'll let you know.

 

 

wessmith1966 12/27/2009 6:06:05 PM

Happy holidays to all my fellow Maniacs!

We all talked about this last week; Avatar would score big all this past week and this weekend because of the holidays and also the weather last weekend kept a lot of people away from the theater. My local cineplex was packed all weekend. The ticket price here just went up to $9.50 (for Avatar 3D it's $12.50 because you keep the glasses), but the $1.00 increase didn't seem to stop anyone from going to the movies.

Sherlock Holmes was a lot of fun. The movie looked absolutely rich and spectacular. Downey Jr. and Law were excellent. For that partnership to work on screen, the actors have to have a certain amount of chemistry between them and they certainly did. I agree with Wiseguy that it was enjoyable, but not a repeat view for me.

I think Avatar's going to hold serve next weekend again. Daybreakers will do solid numbers, Leap Year will be chick flick/date night material and Youth in Revolt will sink faster than the Titanic. I don't know about the rest of you, but I can't sit through another Michael Cera movie. His schtick was funny the first two or three times, but he's a real one-trick pony and I've tired of the act.

I didn't care much for Nine. The musical numbers were great, but the rest of the movie kind of sucked a little I thought.

I'm amazed at how well The Blind Side has done, and Disney can't be too happy with the numbers for Princess and the Frog. Will this be the final nail in the coffin for traditional animated movies?

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