Tagged: Avatar

Avatar pushed to 4th place!

Following a weekend when the underdog romantic comedy, Dear John, shocked the world and stopped Avatar’s unbroken run atop the weekend box office charts, this past weekend three new movies all opened stronger than Avatar, pushing the seven-week champ to fourth place, in front of Dear John, which bested it last week.

Sitting atop the charts was the favorably-positioned Valentine’s Day, a rom-com with great timing that garnered an impressive $56.4 million in its opening bow. The overly gore-ridden remake of The Wolfman came in second place with $31.7 million, while the Harry Potter-wannabe film, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, came in third place with $31.4 million, a virtual photo-finish.

In fourth place, Avatar held steady with $23.5 million domestically, and climbed to $2.35 billion in worldwide box office. That’s almost enough to purchase some rare Ferrari parts for your old Ferrari!

Dear John rounded out the Top 5 films with a still-respectable $16 million in its second week and facing tremendous competition from a formidable trio of films. No other films drew more than $6 million.

Lucky 7 for Avatar!

Seven… count ‘em, seven… weeks atop the charts for James Cameron’s Avatar is the longest any single movie has reigned in a mighty long time; and sad to say, but even though business was down on Avatar to only a $30 million weekend in the US, it was still nearly twice as much as the nearest competitor raked in.

You could buy a lot of metal buildings with Avatar’s $594 million domestic gross, but when you add in $1.44 billion from overseas sales, you have a weekend in which Avatar went over the $2.0 billion mark in worldwide box office. That’s impressive.

The Mel Gibson thriller Edge of Darkness did better than I expected it to do, possibly benefiting from Avatar-exhaustion. It was a distant second place with $17.1 million in its opening bow.

The movie I expected to do better than Mad Mel’s, rom-com When In Rome, pulled in only $12 million for the former Veronica Mars and Heroes star, Kristen Bell. Duane “The Rock” Johnson’s The Tooth Fairy was the only other movie to top $10.0 million… gaining almost exactly that.

On the horizon for next weekend are Dear John, another rom-com with dramatic pretensions that probably won’t register against Avatar; however, From Paris With Love is also debuting, featuring John Travolta in his fiftieth comeback attempt, or something like that. It doesn’t look like my cup of cocoa, but who knows? If Avatar drops below $27 million and Avatar-exhaustion kicks up another notch, From Paris With Love could knock Avatar from atop the box office charts without even deserving to.

If neither of them do the trick, though, look for Avatar not to make it nine in a row, because with rom-com Valentines Day, a remake of the classic Universal horror flick The Wolfman, and the Harry Potter-wannabe movie, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightening Thief all debuting on February 12, there’s no way Avatar can hold off the challenges any longer for box office domination.

You heard it here first.

Avatar makes it six weeks in a row

James Cameron’s AVATAR is slowing down incrementally, but primarily due to a lack of stiff competition, the 3D techno-pic stretched its box office domination to six weeks this weekend. With Sunday estimates included, Avatar added another $36 million this weekend to its domestic take. That brings its to-date domestic total to $552.7 million, as well as $1.19 billion in foreign markets, for a worldwide box office total of $1.74 billion to date.

The strongest new entrant out of the gate was the angel-centric action flick, Legion, but even that film managed only half of Avatar’s running total; $18.2 million, still good enough for second place and certainly no travel emergency.

The Book of Eli was close behind with $17 million for third place, while The Rock powered the family flick, The Tooth Fairy, to a $14.5 million debut. The week’s most disappointing bow went to Extraordinary Measures, which struggled to find $7 million and reach seventh place – evidence of the waning box office punch of co-stars Harrison Ford and Brenden Fraser. Just don’t blame Keri Russell!

Anyway, next weekend brings the debut of the murky Mel Gibson flick, Edge of Darkness, as well as the perky rom-com, When In Rome. Can either of them come close to knocking Avatar off its first place perch?

I doubt it, but I’m willing to bet When In Rome comes closer to that feat than Edge of Darkness.

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.

Avatar makes it four in a row!

While business has slid off a bit – about 29 percent – James Cameron’s blockbuster technopic, Avatar, is still far and away the top movie in the nation and the world. With Sunday estimates figured in, the film is looking at a $48.5 million weekend, bringing its domestic gross to $429 million and although worldwide box office won’t be calculated until later today, Avatar is already the number two movie of all time in worldwide box office.

Just maybe Cameron and company have finally made enough money on this one to book a pleasant suite of rooms at some Orlando hotels.

Meanwhile, Sherlock Holmes looks to stay steady at number two, drawing a $16.7 million weekend, and the Chipmunks movie sequel drew $16.3 million, just behind Holmes, to stay latched onto the third spot without quite overtaking Holmes.

Coming in at the four spot is the vampire flick, Daybreakers, which appears headed toward an “only OK” $14.5 million debut. It’s Complicated rounded out the fifth spot with what’s shaping up to be an $11 million weekend, beating out the new rom-com, Leap Year, which looks to draw in only $9.5 million. But the biggest disappointment had to be Youth In Revolt, the latest Michael Cera teen flick, which may be lucky to draw $6.5 million, well below expectation.

Avatar keeps on rolling…

Some people say James Cameron could have filmed his birthday party with a Canon camera and done well, but his 3D tecnopic, Avatar, has stayed steady since its release and just crossed $1 billion in worldwide box office this weekend.

Domestically, the film had another modest dropoff, garnering a $68.3 million weekend domestically, to bring its US cumulative to $352.1 million, but by passing $1 billion in only 17 days of release, the film, which cost half that to make and promote, is now ensured to see black ink.

Sherlock Holmes, the Robert Downey Jr. vehicle, did well enough to remain in second place, but fell sharply from its debut to a $38.3 million weekend and $140.6 million in 10 days domestically. The Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel was close behind with $36.6 million weekend and $157.3 million to day in 10 days domestically.

It’s Complicated, The Blind Side, Up In the Air and The Princess and the Frog all did well over New Year’s weekend, gaining over $10 million or more, but none came close to the top three.

New competition arrives next weekend with the vampire movie Daybreakers, the rom-com Leap Year, and the Michael Cera teen comedy Youth In Revolt, with perhaps only Leap Year best positioned to break into the Top Three; however, right now, Avatar appears positioned to enjoy a very long run at the top of the charts.

Avatar hangs on at box office!

Both Robert Downey Jr’s Sherlock Holmes and kids flick Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel did terrific at the box office over Christmas weekend, but like the best diet supplement, Avatar held on to its top spot at the box office.

Avatar posted $75 million in domestic box office, a drop-off of less than three percent from last weekend, and brought its domestic take to $212 million. Add in foreign markets and Avatar raked in another $402 million, making for a global box office take of $615 million in only 10 days of release. Even with its lofty budget of $300 million, plus another $200 million in global marketing efforts, Avatar is now safely in the black.

The next question will be how long it can hang on.

Sherlock Holmes drew $65.3 million in its opening bow, which would be more than enough to earn the top spot most weeks, but this time out was only good enough for a strong second place. Alvin and the Chipmunks was also surprisingly strong, garnering $50.2 million in its opening bow and $77 million since its early release last week.

Proving that this weekend’s choices were all worthy of moviegoers’ attention, even the iffy romantic comedy It’s Complicated did well, drawing $22.1 million in box office and securing the fourth spot. Going into wide release, Up In The Air posted an $11.75 million weekend to take the fifth spot away from The Blind Side, which still managed $11.73 million in its sixth week of release.

Twilight Saga: New Moon dropped all the way to 11th place, adding only $3 million domestically to its $280 million take so far, and with $381 million from foreign markets, that puts New Moon at $662 million, or just slightly ahead of Avatar. Of course, I’d rather have New Moon’s profit margin; that flick cost only $25 million against $662 million in global box office, compared to Avatar’s $500 million plus against $616 million in global sales.

Not many new flicks expected next weekend, so the horse race should prove interesting among all the contenders currently on the board.

Avatar blows up box office

Between a $300 million production budget and an estimated $200 million promotional budget, Avatar is one of the most expensive movies made since, well… the last time James Cameron made a film. Remember a humble little movie called Titanic? Yeah, that was small potatoes.

But enough with the hip sarcasm. Because even though James Cameron may have lots of people trying to guarantee his health and safety while making a massive movie like Avatar, including fall protection, the flick is now out there, and the first returns are pretty much in.

Avatar did very, very well. In its first weekend of release, the film grossed $77 million domestically. Sure, that’s not quite The Dark Knight numbers, but still quite good. But the foreign markets have gone crazy for Avatar as well, adding $165 million to the take for a first weekend global box office total of $242 million. That’s nearly half of the total estimated budget in three days.

As of end of business Tuesday, those figures had climbed to $109 million domestic, $219 foreign and $329 million total worldwide box office.

Now the questions shifts to how well Avatar will hold up as the weeks play out; the film as a markedly pro-green, liberal political agenda that’s not even thinly disguised… will that translate into success in a Barack Obama nation? Will the film fizzle if red-state America stays home because of it? Or will the power of the storytelling and dazzling special effects overcome any political overtone concerns?

Furthermore, can the movie survive any initial drop-off and develop legs, like Titanic and The Dark Knight, or will it fizzle after its initial big splash, as was the case with The Twilight Saga: New Moon? Only time will tell for certain, but in early online ticket preorders, Alvin and the Chipmunks 2, debuting this weekend, is outselling Avatar; and Robert Downey Jr.’s Sherlock Holmes is testing better more broadly with audiences.

Can Alvin 2 and Sherlock Holmes topple Avatar? Can Avatar survive the competition at the box office to become a perennial draw and make money the way Titanic did? These are the questions that will intrigue this coming weekend, and in the weeks to come.