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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Clint Eastwood follows up his racially charged Gran Torrino (2008)  with a movie that is based on historical events that occurred shortly after Nelson Mandela became the president of South Africa in 1994.  Post apartheid South Africa was still deeply racially divided and Mandela had the idea that getting the entire country behind their Rugby team  (The Springboks) would help unify it.

Problem is, for a movie that is supposed to be an inspiring story about an underdog sports team that overcomes enormous obstacles to win the World Cup, the movie feels very….uninspired.  I can’t really point to anything that is inherently wrong with the film, but I never felt emotionally invested in the team, and that makes for one long, dull movie.

The acting in the movie is quite good. A buffed up, blond Matt Damon plays the captain of the rugby team, Francois Pienaar.  He’s honorable and likable, and when he is summoned by Mandela to have tea, he shows the proper respect toward the man.

His light skin and light hair represent the white minority (Afrikaners) that has held most of the power in South Africa. Damon aptly handles the South African accent and seems well suited to the role.

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Late yesterday, Warner Bros. released the first trailer for Clint Eastwood’s next Oscar contender, Invictus. In case you’re not familiar, it tells the true story of Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) who joins forces with Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon), the captain of South Africa’s rugby team, to help unite their country.

At the time of his election, Mandela knows his nation remains divided racially and economically after the end of apartheid. He hopes to bring his people together by rallying them behind their rugby team as they make a longshot attempt to win the 1995 World Cup match.

You really can’t go wrong having Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon in your film and this one looks very interesting to me. Being a big fan of Eastwood as both actor and director, I’m sure I’ll see this when it comes out. Until then, we can be entertained by this new trailer, which you can watch courtesy of Apple after the jump, or at Apple’s website in HD.

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