Avatar only dropped 14% from last weekend, and is still putting up huge numbers after seven weeks in release.  Once again, it maintained the top spot at the box office with $30 Million. Only six million to go before it breaks $600 Million domestically. At this rate it will hit that number this week for sure.

Mel Gibson’s revenge thriller Edge of Darkness managed a lukewarm $17 Million on just over 3,000 screens, which was a little lower than expectations. Kristen Bell’s romantic comedy When in Rome placed third, with $12 Million. The Tooth Fairy only dropped 29% for fourth place with an additional $10 Million.

The Book of Eli came in at number 5 with $8.7 Million.  It has almost earned  back its $80 Million budget. Outside of the top five, things were not so rosy. In its second week in release, Harrison Ford’s Extraordinary Measures tumbled completely out of the top ten into 13th place for the weekend.

That’s gotta be painful for Ford, and for the fledgling CBS films. Legion also dove about 60%, but a low budget probably ensures that it will still be profitable.

Another week, another Avatar win, more records broken, blah, blah, blah. No seriously, Avatar dropped a measly 16% from last week and added another $36 Million for a domestic cumulative of $552 Million in just six weeks.  It now stands as the number two motion picture of all time having beaten The Dark Knight over the weekend and at this rate will end up beating the number one record holder Titanic very soon.

New release Legion was not screened for critics in most areas, but it still managed to make over $18 Million.  Word of mouth was bad, though. According to Entertainment Weekly, the film only got an exit score of C- from theater goers. Denzel Washington’s Book of Eli held on to the third spot, dropping almost 50% for $17 Million.  Its two week total is $62 Million.

New release Tooth Fairy made $14.5 Million for fourth place. It actually got a rather high cinemascore of A- from audiences polled. The Lovely Bones rounded out the top five, dropping about 50%, and making about $8 Million.  It has now earned  $31.6 Million total.

Outside the top five, the first film from CBS films, Extraordinary Measures, had a pretty bleak debut, making about $7 Million.  The combined star power of Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser wasn’t enough to get people in the seats. On an up-note, It’s Complicated is about ready to cross $100 Million, as its cumulative total now stands at $98 Million.

There are lots of puns that could be mined from the title, but the truth is, Extraordinary Measures is a movie that is much better suited to the small screen. It is a mediocre film at best, but I suppose some people might be find its story of triumph over insurmountable odds moving. The crowd I saw the film with seemed to enjoy it a lot more than I did.

The film is loosely based on the book The Cure, by Geeta Anand, which chronicles the true story of the Crowley family and their battle with pompe disease (a neuromuscular disorder related to muscular dystrophy). It follows their race to find a treatment  before two of their three children die from the disease. Having one child with this horrible disease is horrible enough, having two is incomprehensible.

Brendan Fraser plays John Crowley, a father who risks his job, his family , and his sanity on a desperate gamble to find a treatment.  Late nights spent poring over the Internet eventually lead him to a renegade scientist, Robert Stonewell (Harrison Ford).

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