Avatar Tops Record Box-office Weekend
December 28, 2009 by Trend PK
Filed under Entertainment News
NEW YORK: It was a memorable and merry Christmas in Hollywood as moviegoers shattered box-office records, responding in droves to a diverse array of high-profile releases over the holiday weekend.
The estimated $278 million in weekend box-office revenue broke the previous record of roughly $253 million set in July 2008, the weekend “The Dark Knight” was released.
A diverse group of films drew throngs to the multiplexes: James Cameron’s “Avatar” pushed strongly into its second week while “Sherlock Holmes,” ”Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel” and “It’s Complicated” all opened.
“Avatar,” the 3-D epic, topped them all, earning $75 million for 20th Century Fox, according to studio estimates Sunday. Remarkably, that was only a 3 percent drop from its opening weekend total of $77.4 million. (Blockbusters typically drop 30-50 percent in the second weekend.) In its 10 days of release, “Avatar” has made $212 million domestically — and could be on its way to a worldwide gross of over $1 billion.
“This thing is going to be playing and playing, I can tell you that,” said Bert Livingston, 20th Century Fox distribution executive. “There’s a lot of business out there. Everybody’s got good movies out.”
In second was “Sherlock Holmes,” British director Guy Ritchie’s reboot of the franchise with Robert Downey Jr. starring as Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective. The Warner Bros. film opened with a weekend total of $65.4 million, including a record Christmas Day debut of $24.9 million.
It was a start that seemed sure to pave the way for sequels. Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Bros., called the result “sensational.”
“Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel,” which opened Wednesday, took in $50.2 million on the weekend and $77.1 million in its five days of release. The film, also from Fox, earned an impressive $18.8 million on Wednesday alone. The strong start suggested that “Squeakquel” was likely to surpass its 2007 original, which made $217 million.
Also opening was Nancy Meyer’s “It’s Complicated,” the romantic comedy starring Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. With an audience 72 percent female, the Universal film took in $22.1 million, a solid debut.
The strong Christmas weekend results spelled good things for all the films in release in the coming week — one of the most lucrative of the year.
“We all know what next week means to the industry. This is huge,” said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal. “Christmas is past us. No more shopping, no more returning. College kids are home. … I’m so optimistic about what the next weekend holds for us.”
Said Livingston: “Starting this Monday, every day is a Saturday.”
Two films with Oscar aspirations also released wide over the weekend: Jason Reitman’s “Up in the Air” (Paramount) and Rob Marshall’s “Nine” (Weinstein Co.).
“Up in the Air,” which has some of the best awards momentum including Oscar buzz for star George Clooney, grossed $11.8 million, bringing its cumulative total to $24.5 million — already nearly earning back its production budget.
“For us, this movie was always the movie that we felt was going to be a real focus during the awards season,” said Rob Moore, Paramount vice chairman. “It feels like this should have a long run as awards season continues.”
“Nine,” the adaptation of the Broadway musical (which itself was a riff of Federico Fellini’s classic film “8 1/2″) earned $5.5 million in 1408 theaters.
Hollywood also seemed to be offering good old spectacle to moviegoers. “Avatar” grossed $8.8 million in IMAX theaters, actually increasing from its opening weekend. IMAX chairman and president Greg Foster said they were operating essentially at capacity.
“There is no context,” said Foster. “It’s so far beyond where we’ve ever been. It’s not eking past a record, it’s shattering it.”
Christmas weekend was also neatly organized around various demographics. There was science-fiction, romantic comedy, family fare, action-packed thriller and serious awards-contender.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. “Avatar,” $75 million.
2. “Sherlock Holmes,” $65.4 million.
3. “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel,” $50.2 million.
4. “It’s Complicated,” $22.1 million.
5. “Up in the Air,” $11.8 million.
6. “The Blind Side,” $11.7 million.
7. “The Princess and the Frog,” $8.7 million.
8. “Nine,” $5.5 million.
9. “Did You Hear About the Morgans?” $5 million.
10. “Invictus,” $4.4 million.a
Avatar Tops Record Box-office Weekend was first posted on December 28, 2009 at 11:31 am.
