WEEKEND BOX-OFFICE
Five
weeks at #1 and counting…
Uhhhhhm…for those people who didn’t think James
Cameron’s AVATAR would ever beat James Cameron’s TITANIC as the
highest-grossing movie of all-time…think again!!! After only
5 weeks of release, AVATAR has grossed over $1.6 BILLION
worldwide, while the TITANIC record stands at $1.8 BILLION.
Yeah, it’s "only" $200M off the mark and something tells
me that’s a done deal and then some at this point! Coincidentally
enough, the last film to remain at the #1 spot for five weeks in a
row was TITANIC, which stayed at #1 for 15 weeks in a row back in
1997-1998.
For those keeping track of the domestic numbers
instead, AVATAR just surpassed the original f*ckin’ STAR WARS
($461M) to become the 3rd highest grossing domestic film of
all-time with $491M after only THE DARK KNIGHT ($533M) and the
king of the world, TITANIC, with $600M. I think we can all agree
that it’s just a matter of time though, as AVATAR only lost 17% of
its audience from last weekend, has been atop the box-office
charts for 5 weeks running now, with no signs of stopping up, and
it seems like fans of the film aren’t afraid to go see it many
times over (just like TITANIC!).
The big surprise of the weekend had to be THE BOOK
OF ELI though. I don’t think anyone really expected an apocalyptic
thriller to make anything over $10-15M in its opening weekend, but
the film managed a solid 2nd place opening with about $32M (go Mila!!).
Despite mostly negative
reviews, Peter Jackson’s THE LOVELY BONES also managed a
decent opening in wider release, with $17M and a 3rd place finish.
Thankfully the awful-looking Jackie Chan movie, THE SPY NEXT DOOR,
opened in 6th place with about $10M.
But it’s not only AVATAR and the new releases that
are doing well these days. ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS 2 is closing in
on the $200M mark, while SHERLOCK HOLMES also keep churning in the
dollars. Nancy Meyers’ adult dramedy IT’S COMPLICATED is also
closing in on the $100M mark and with the Martin Luther King Jr.
holiday on Monday…God knows all of these totals are gonna
increase even more. Oddly enough, the film that seems to be at the
top of everyone’s "Best of…" lists, UP IN THE AIR,
isn’t necessarily connecting with "regular audiences" as
much as critical circles, or so it seems (although it still
managed to generate about $60M so far).
The 3 movies that were knocked from the top 10
this week include THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG ($96M), YOUTH IN
REVOLT ($12M) and the #4 movie from last weekend, DAYBREAKERS
($24M), which managed to drop all the way to 11th place this
weekend. Those genre films will do that sometimes.
Next week sees the release of 3 new movies
including the Rock making a major fool of himself in TOOTH
FAIRY, Dennis Quaid and Paul Bettany cashing some checks in
the genre entry LEGION
and Harrison Ford hooking up with Brendan Fraser (what a power
team!!) in something called EXTRAORDINARY
MEASURES. I didn’t bother setting up a poll asking if AVATAR
would remain #1 next week, because I think we can all agree that
it will stay there, so how about this question: how many more
weeks do you think AVATAR will remain atop the box-office charts? VOTE
HERE!!!
| 1. Avatar |
$ 41.3 Million |
$ 491.8 Million |
| 2. The Book of Eli |
$ 31.6 Million |
|
| 3. The Lovely Bones |
$ 17.1 Million |
|
| 4. Alvin and the… |
$ 11.5 Million |
$ 192.6 Million |
| 5. Sherlock Holmes |
$ 9.8 Million |
$ 180 Million |
| 6. The Spy Next Door |
$ 9.7 Million |
|
| 7. It’s Complicated |
$ 7.7 Million |
$ 88.2 Million |
| 8. Leap Year |
$ 5.8 Million |
$ 17.5 Million |
| 9. The Blind Side |
$ 5.6 Million |
$ 226.8 Million |
| 10. Up in the Air |
$ 5.5 Million |
$ 62.8 Million |
ACCESS
BOX-OFFICE ARCHIVES HERE
The comment section exists to allow readers to discuss the article constructively and respectfully, focused on the topic at hand.
What’s Not Allowed