Well, it is the first box office recap of 2010, and it looks like I’ll be dropping  the “B” word, as in “Billion.”  Avatar sailed over the billion dollar mark in only its third week in release. Thanks to this worldwide total, it now sits comfortably at the  number four position of highest grossing movies of all time, right behind Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.

It has already exceeded the total that took The Dark Knight its entire theatrical run to achieve, and Avatar has shown no signs of  slowing down. The movie dropped less than 10% from last weekend and made $68.3 Million, bringing its domestic total to over $352 Million.

There was plenty of box office love to go around this weekend, and several movies did exceptionally well. Sherlock Holmes added another $38.3 Million to its two week total, which now stands at over $140.7 Million. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel made $36.6 Million, for an impressive two week cumulative of $157.3 Million.

The adult comedy It’s Complicated only dropped  15% from its Christmas weekend opening, and racked up $18.7 Million for a strong fourth place. Fifth place went to The Blind Side, which has been in the top ten for over seven weeks now. It actually increased its total 10% over last weekend, and has made over $209 Million now.

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Seems that film studios received plenty of holiday cheer this past holiday weekend. Audiences flocked to a myriad of movies, which resulted in the highest grossing domestic box office on record. When the dust had cleared, a massive $278 Million had been earned at the box office, which bested the previous record ($260.8 Million) set by The Dark Knight opening weekend in July 2008. The top three films alone grossed over $190 Million, an astonishing number.

Avatar has many prognosticators eating crow, as it dropped only a few percentage points from its opening total and made about $75 Million, earning a solid first place finish. Its 10 day total now stands at $212 Million, and worldwide, the film has made over $617 Million! At this point, there is little question it will earn its purported $300-$500 Million budget back.  After months of speculation, Fox studio heads can finally exhale a sigh of relief.

Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes also fared well, and made over $65 Million its opening weekend. Robert Downey Jr. continues to prove he is a major box office draw. Fox also saw Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel place in the top three with $50 Million. The adult comedy Its Complicated earned a respectable $22 Million on just under 2,900 screens.

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As expected, James Cameron’s epic 3-D adventure Avatar easily won the weekend with over $73 Million. That’s nothing to sneeze at, but it is hardly the type of money that studio dreams are made of. Take into account that the number is slightly inflated because IMAX tickets cost more than regular tickets, and you come out with a good, but not great, weekend.  The movie didn’t break any records, and came in under many projections.

There is some conjecture that a winter storm that blanketed the East coast might have had a deleterious affect on ticket sales.  Worldwide, the film fared better, and hauled in over $232 Million. The film is enjoying great word of mouth, and received a solid “A” cinemascore  .

Other than that, the weekend before Christmas was silent.  Disney’s holdover The Princess and the Frog dropped 50%, and managed an okay $12 Million, and yep, there was the ever reliable The Blind Side in the number three spot.

Audiences did not want to hear about the Morgans, so the Hugh Grant/Sarah Jessica vehicle Did You Hear About The Morgans? limped in at $7 Million.  The Twilight Saga: New Moon rounded out the top five.

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