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.
The Weinstein Company continues to have a really dismal year at the box office, as their newest release Youth in Revolt barely sputtered its way to a ninth place finish with $7 Million, and a per-screen average of only $3,700. Their other current release, Nine, made $1.6 Million, and has only recouped $16 Million of its $80 Million budget.
The Weinstein Company has put out some high quality offerings this past year, including The Road, and A Single Man, but the only release that really showed some box office muscle muscle was Inglourious Basterds. They just can’t catch a break.
Next week The Book of Eli, starring Denzel Washington will be opening.
