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.

Well, I have officially run out of clever ways to say that Avatar won the weekend box office, and I think I still have weeks, if not months, to go. For the fourth week in a row, Avatar ruled the domestic box office and it has now made a mind-blowing $429 Million in one month. The movie dropped almost 30% from last weekend, yet still managed a hefty $48 Million, which places it in the seven spot for highest grossing movie (domestically) ever. It has earned $1.2 Billion globally.

Trailing the top earner were Sherlock Holmes, and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, which each made around $16 Million. Holmes has now made $165 Million in three weeks, and Squeakquel has made $178 Million in as many weeks. Both look poised to surpass $200 Million during their theatrical runs.

New releases were almost shut out of the top five this weekend, but the vampire horror flick Daybreakers, starring Ethan Hawke, managed to squeeze into fourth place with a respectable gross of $15 Million. It’s Complicated took the number five spot, and made $11 Million, for a cumulative total of $76 Million. The critically maligned  romantic comedy Leap Year stirred enough interest to make about $9 Million for sixth place.

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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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The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HAFTA) announced its 2009 nominees for the Golden Globes this morning. The Golden Globes are considered a harbinger of the Oscar season, even though they  generally throw a few wacky choices into their slate.

For those keeping track, Up in the Air nabbed six nominations, followed by Avatar with four.  Sandra Bullock continues to enjoy a stellar year, as she was nominated for The Blind Side as well as The Proposal. Other double nominees include Meryl Streep (Julie and Julia, It’s Complicated), and Matt Damon (Invictus, The Informant!).  Directors Quentin Tarantino and Jason Reitman each got a nod for directing and screenplay as well.

The Golden Globes ceremony will take place on January 17th, 2010, and will air on NBC.

Here is a list of the nominees in major film categories:

Best Picture, Drama

Avatar

The Hurt Locker

Inglourious Basterds

Precious

Up in the Air

Best Picture, Musical/Comedy

500 Days of Summer

The Hangover

It’s Complicated

Julie and Julia

Nine

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