WEEKEND BOX-OFFICE
His
future’s so bright, Cameron’s
gotta wear shades…
Alright, let’s get all the AVATAR records and talk
out of the way first. The film recently became the biggest
grossing movie of all-time (worldwide) as it pranced past James
Cameron’s previous record-holder, TITANIC, which had made
$1,840,000,000 around the world. AVATAR, which is still going
strong by the way, is already at $2,039,2000 and counting.
That’s on the worldwide front though. In terms of domestic
box-office, TITANIC still holds the top spot with $600M, but
unless something cataclysmic happens in the world in the next
couple of days, methinks AVATAR will surpass that figure as well,
as it presently hovers around the $595M mark and is still
the #1 in America today.
Even for those who love to discuss how inflation
should matter in these discussions, AVATAR is presently the #21
movie of all-time when adjusted for inflation. Not too shabby.
And in case you’re keeping score at home, this would be the 7th
weekend in a row that AVATAR is the #1 movie in the country, and
even though some
of us thought that Mel Gibson’s EDGE OF DARKNESS might push it
from the top spot, the truth is that the fight wasn’t even close
with AVATAR in first place with $30M over the past three days,
while Gibson’s flick came in 2nd place with about $17M. Gibson’s
last "big flick", SIGNS, had opened with $60M back in
2002, and ended up grossing about $227M when all was said and
done.
What’s even nuttier about all this AVATAR success
is that the film still seems to have massive legs. Generally
movies lose about 40-50% of their audience from week to week
(LEGION lost about 61% of its audience from last weekend), but
AVATAR is the exception that keeps on ticking, as it only lost 14%
of its audience from last weekend. In other words, people are
going to see this movie again and again and again and again (see
our RECENT POLL
about how many times our readers have seen it so far). Oh and did
I mention how the film will likely be nominated for tons of Oscar
nominations this coming Tuesday, which will likely give it an even
greater boost? (not to mention, if/when it wins??) Phew! I wish I
was a lint in James Cameron’s pocket, yo!
Paul Dergarabedian, box-office expert and man with
a great last name, said today: "It’s everybody going
repeatedly. At first it was more of a fanboy experience, and then
the word got out." The one other new film of the weekend,
WHEN IN ROME, opened decently in 3rd place with about $12M.
The 2 films that were knocked out of the top 10
this weekend include EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES ($10M) after only 1
week in the top 10, and THE SPY NEXT DOOR ($21), which will
hopefully be the last crappy Jackie Chan "kid’s movie"
that we see for some time.
I don’t see much changing next weekend either with
only 2 new releases going up against the big blue monster,
including DEAR
JOHN, a tear-jerker starring the dude from GI. JOE and the
chick from MAMMA MIA, as well as FROM
PARIS WITH LOVE, a fun-looking movie starring John Travolta in
full "I’m having a blast!" mode and featuring another
Luc Besson European cast and adventure. I don’t think it’s worth
asking if AVATAR will remain at #1 at this point though, so how
about another angle? How much $$$ do you think AVATAR will end up
with, domestically, when all is said and counted? VOTE
HERE!!!
| 1. Avatar |
$ 30 Million |
$ 594.5 Million |
| 2. Edge of Darkness |
$ 17.1 Million |
|
| 3. When in Rome |
$ 12.1 Million |
|
| 4. The Tooth Fairy |
$ 10 Million |
$ 26.1 Million |
| 5. The Book of Eli |
$ 8.8 Million |
$ 74.4 Million |
| 6. Legion |
$ 6.8 Million |
$ 28.6 Million |
| 7. The Lovely Bones |
$ 4.7 Million |
$ 38 Million |
| 8. Sherlock Holmes |
$ 4.5 Million |
$ 197.6 Million |
| 9. Alvin and the… |
$ 4 Million |
$ 209.3 Million |
| 10. It’s Complicated |
$ 3.7 Million |
$ 104 Million |
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BOX-OFFICE ARCHIVES HERE
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