

UPDATES ‘Avatar’ Now #2 All-Time Grossing Movie

UPDATES ‘Avatar’ Passes $1B Worldwide And $352M Domestic

SATURDAY PM/SUNDAY AM UPDATE: Guess what? Twentieth Century Fox’s 3D Avatar is still #1 in North America and overseas. The studio says it took in $13.3M domestic Friday, down -48% from New Years Day, and $21.2M Saturday for a hefty $48.5M weekend that’s only -29% down from last Fri-Sat-Sun. That’s four #1s in a row for James Cameron’s big budget technopic which hasn’t happened at the box office since The Dark Knight in July 2008. Its domestic cume is now $429M, passing 2009’s highest grossing pic Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen and its $402.1M. Hollywood.com says later this week Avatar will be first IMAX Hollywood feature to cross $100M in global receipts. The studio announced that Avatar made another $143M at the international box office this 4th weekend from 14,839 screens in 111 countries. That’s up 4.5% from the 3rd weekend, raising its foreign cume now to $906.2M. Its worldwide cume is now $1.335 billion, 2nd only to that other Cameron epic Titanic‘s $1.843B (not adjusted for inflation or 3D’s higher ticket prices). “It’s kind of like Usain Bolt breezing in the quarterfinals of the Olympics 100M — stretching out a lead but with no real competition,” one Fox exec exulted. The big question now is whether Denzel Washington’s Book of Eli can knock it off next week.

Nothing released today was even in the same sports stadium. Hmm, sneaking a release into the first week of January used to be a good strategy over the last few years. But not if faced with a worldwide juggernaut that became the No. 2 highest grossing movie of all time in just 20 days. (The record hasn’t been adjusted for ticket prices of inflation.) So Lionsgate opened the vampire film Daybreakers, which came in a distant but still decent #2 Friday after its trailer’s views grew 113% this week for first place. Although the film is getting good buzz, it fell to #4 after Saturday. Universal’s debut of the romantic comedy Leap Year barely cracked the Top 5 during its first day of release Friday, then fell out to #6 Saturday. And The Weinstein Co’s rebel without a clue Youth In Revolt showed life with its Friday debut despite its modest run.

Here’s the Top 10:

1. Avatar (20th Century Fox) Week 4 [3,422 Theaters]

Fri $13.3M, Sat $21.2M, Wkd $48.5M, Cume $429M

2. Sherlock Holmes (Warner Bros) Week 3 [3,626 Theaters]

Fri $5.1M, Sat $7.3M, Wkd $16.6M, Cume $165.1M

3. Alvin & The Chipmunks: The Squealquel (Fox) Week 3 [3,641 Theaters]

Fri $3.4M, Sat $8M, Wkd $16.3M, Cume $178.1M

4. Daybreakers (Lionsgate) NEW [2,523 Theaters]

Fri $5.8M, Sat $5.5M, Wkd $15M

5. It’s Complicated (Universal) Week 3 [2,955 Theaters]

Fri $3.2M, Sat $4.9M, Wkd $11M, Cume $76.3M

6. Leap Year (Universal) NEW [2,511 Theaters]

Fri $3.3M, Sat $3.9M, Wkd $9.1M

7. Blind Side (Warner Bros) Week 8 [2,880 Theaters]

Fri $2.2M, Sat $3.3M, Wkd $7.7M, Cume $219.1M

8. Up In The Air (Paramount) Week 6 [2,218 Theaters]

Fri $2M, Sat $3.2M, Wkd $7.1M, Cume $54.7M

9. Youth in Revolt (The Weinstein Co) NEW [1,873 Theaters]

Fri $2.7M, Sat $2.5M, Wkd $7M

10. Princess And The Frog (Disney) Week 7 [2,620 Theaters]

Fri $950K, Sat $2.2M, Wkd $4.5M, Cume $92.4M

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Limited Runs

Invictus (Warner Bros) Week 5 [1,340 Theaters]

Fri, Sat $785K, Wkd $1.71M, Cume $33.5M

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Sony Classics) Week 3 [552 Theaters]

Fri, Sat $701K, Wkd $1.7M, Cume $2.1M

Nine (Weinstein Co) Week 4 [1,060 Theaters]

Fri $469K, Sat $676K, Wkd $1.6M, Cume $16.8M

The Young Victoria (Apparition) Week 4 [476 Theaters]

Fri $301K, Sat $514K, Wkd $1.1M, Cume $4.5M

3 Idiots (Big Picture) Week 3 [135 Theaters]

Fri $134K, Sat $261K, Wkd $540K, Cume $5.5M

Precious (Lionsgate) Week 10 [408 Theaters]

Fri $130K, Sat $200K, Wkd $460K, Cume $44.3M

Crazy Heart (Fox Searchlight) Week 4 [33 Theaters]

Fri, Sat $200K, Wkd $435K, Cume $1.2M

Brothers (Relativity/Lionsgate) Week 6 [428 Theaters]

Fri $120K, Sat $160K, Wk $380K, Cume $28.2M

A Single Man (Weinstein Co) Week 5 [48 Theaters]

Fri $89K, Sat $158K, Wkd $358K, Cume $2.2M

Broken Embraces (Sony Classics) Week 8 [101 Theaters]

Fri $90K, Sat $152K, Wkd $345K, Cume $2.2M

The Road (Weinstein Co) Week 7 [207 Theaters]

Fri $72K, Sat $106K, Wkd $247K, Cume $7.3M

Crazy On The Outside (Freestyle) NEW [74 Theaters]

Fri $21K, Sat $28K, Wkd $68M

The White Ribbon (Sony Classics) Week 2 [5 Theaters]

Fri $12K, Sat $20K, Wkd $48K, Cume $168K

Pyarr Impossible (Yash Raj) NEW [29 Theaters]

Fri $14K, Sat $18K, Wkd $44K

Lovely Bones (Paramount) Week 5 [3 Theaters]

Fri $10K, Sat $10K, Wkd $35K, Cume $444K

In Search Of Memory (Icarus) NEW [1 Theater]

Fri $3K, Sat $3K, Wkd $8K