‘Avatar’ Makes It Seven In A Row
Written by Wayne Hall on February 1, 2010 – 12:00 pm -
James Cameron’s Avatar continued its winning ways in box offices this past weekend, as ticket sales declined a minuscule 14 percent to $30 million, according to Variety. The 3-D box office phenomenon has now grossed an estimated $594.4 million in the United States and will in the next few days become the first movie ever to surpass $601 million in that market. Combined with $1.45 billion internationally, the worldwide total has passed the $2 billion (with a “b”) mark.
As reported here, the film passed Titanic in foreign revenues, becoming the all-time highest grosser worldwide as of Jan. 25, leaving only the U.S. figure to beat. The movie still remains just a few strokes behind the $600.8 million domestic benchmark set by Titanic in 1998, but given last week’s daily average of $3.18 million, Fox said Avatar should beat Titanic sometime this week.
Avatar still topped the overseas box office with $95 million, slipping only 12 percent in its seventh frame. Notable markets included Japan, where the film grossed $6.8 million for a 20 percent uptick, and Italy, topping the movie’s territories with $10.9 million.
Of the films that opened last week, only 20th Century Fox and Walden Media’s family comedy The Tooth Fairy held on well, dropping just 29 percent from its soft opening to $10 million. Sony Pictures’ post-apocalyptic thriller Legion plummeted 61 percent from its healthy bow to $6.8 million, while CBS Films’ Extraordinary Measures fell 57 percent to a once-again disappointing $2.6 million.
Sherlock Holmes, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel and It’s Complicated rounded out the top 10. Holdover Holmes performed well for Warner with an estimated weekend gross of $4.5 million and a total just shy of the $200 million mark, while Fox’s Squeakquel earned $4 million for an overall $209.3 million.
Fox Searchlight more than doubled the theater count of its indie country-music film Crazy Heart, taking advantage of the string of awards star Jeff Bridges has won and in anticipation of an Academy Award nomination. It generated a solid $2.25 million this weekend, bringing its total so far to $6.6 million. The company plans to more than double that number this week, so look for this film to gain even more income soon.
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- Avatar May Sink Titanic’s Box Office Record
- Avatar Eclipses Dark Knight’s Record Take
- Christmas Weekend Shatters Theater Box Office Records
- Avatar Is King Of The Theaters
Tags: 3-D, Avatar, James Cameron, Sherlock Holmes, Titanic
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