1/02/10 Box Office Results: ‘Avatar’ Makes a Lot of Noise in a Rather Quiet Weekend

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Well James Cameron, it seems that I was wrong about your Avatar. As much as I loved the movie, I really thought it wouldn’t go as far as it has. In its third weekend at #1, Avatar now has over a billion dollars worldwide ($1.02 billion, to be exact). Domestically, though, it has $352.1 million. This weekend alone it made another $68.3 million. Avatar helped make this past New Years Day the highest grossing of all time, raking in $25.2 million January 1^st alone. If this success continues, the movie could go on to break Titanic’s all-time gross of $1.8 billion in total. The budget still hasn’t been revealed for Avatar, but if it is $500 million as rumored, it certainly made that back and then some. So congratulations, James Cameron. You are officially the King of the world once again.

Elsewhere in the box office, everything was pretty quiet. Sherlock Holmes dipped 38.5% but remained in second, taking in another $38.4 million. Its total is now $140.7 million in ten days, surely benefiting from the two holiday weekends. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel fell a minor 25.1% but stayed behind Holmes, managing $36.6 million. The kiddie flick’s total is now $157.3 million, a good sum more than the first Chipmunk’s two-week haul of $84 million.

Nancy Meyers’ latest It’s Complicated took a 15.4% dive, at #4 this weekend with $18.7 million. Rounding out the top five is The Blind Side, which is still very impressive. In its seventh week in release, the sports drama grossed another $12.7 million, bringing its grand sum to $209.1 million. The Twilight Saga: New Moon came and left, but Sandra Bullock looks to be in the box office report for a few weeks more, with its Oscar buzz and all.

Out of the top five-

• The only new movie released this past weekend was Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon, which debuted with $61,300 on three screens.

Here are the box office results according to studio estimates Sunday:

1. 1. Avatar…$68.3 million
2. 2. Sherlock Holmes…$38.4 million
3. 3. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel…$36.6 million
4. 4. It’s Complicated…$18.7 million
5. 5. The Blind Side…$12.7 million
6. 6. Up in the Air…$11.4 million
7. 7. The Princess and the Frog…$10 million
8. 8. Did You Hear About the Morgans?…$5.2 million
9. 9. Nine…$4.3 million
10. 10. Invictus…$4.1 million