Avatar makes it five in a row

Although slowly losing some steam, Avatar made it five straight weekends at the top of the box office charts following this weekend in which the 3D techno-flick drew $41.3 million domestically, bringing its total to $491 million in the US alone. You can buy a lot of Branson vacation packages with that kind of jing. Add in $1.1 billion additional worldwide and you have a flick that has globally produced $1.6 billion in worldwide box office to date.

The Book of Eli debuted well with $31.6 million, good enough for the second spot on the charts, but still $10 million behind Avatar’s pace. Then in third is a personal favorite; the Peter Jackson-directed thriller, The Lovely Bones, which drew $17 million in its first week of nationwide release. However, with a $100 million production budget, The Lovely Bones will have to have the staying power of Avatar at that rate to even hope to make its money back. Still, it’s the best pure storytelling movie I’ve seen in a while, so The Lovely Bones gets the HollywoodIdiocy.com stamp of approval, even in third place.

Alvin and the Chipmunks II stayed strong with $11.5 million to take fourth place, lurching ahead of Robert Downey Jr’s Sherlock Holmes flick, which rounded out the Top 5 with just under $10 million and just ahead of The Spy Next Door, which drew $9.7 million.

Everything else is fading fast.

This coming weekend’s new flicks don’t impress me. Extraordinary Measures seems pedantic and overly earnest. Legion just seems stupid. The Tooth Fairy, starring The Rock, should make a decent flick for kids who are tired of seeing Avatar in 3D, but none seem likely to knock off Avatar, and hopefully The Lovely Bones benefits from solid word-of-mouth so it doesn’t get lost in the mix.