‘Avatar’ is once again at the top of the box office charts, thanks to fans spreading the hype, high ticket prices, and two consecutive holiday weekends.
The James Cameron film earned $68.3 million over the New Year weekend, reports Hollywood.com Box Office. The weekend marks only a small 10 percent drop from the domestic total of $352.1 million during Christmas weekend, which is the third biggest weekend ever in the US.
But the biggest news for the 3D film is its global box office earning, which went beyond $1 billion in just 17 days, putting ‘The Dark Knight’ to shame, as it took an entire theatrical run to earn the same. Another impressive milestone is ‘Avatar’s’ $66.4 million sales from IMAX theatres, considered to be a record for the format.
Following ‘Avatar’ is ‘Sherlock Holmes’, which earned $38.4 million, a drop of 41 percent for a total of $140 million. At the third spot is ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel’ with $36.6 million, marking a 25 percent drop for $157 million in total earnings.
‘It’s Complicated’ finds itself at the fourth place, with a drop of 15 percent, earning $18.7 million and having a $59.1 million total.
Meanwhile, ‘The Blind Side’ took the fifth spot, with an 8 percent increase to reach $12.7 million and a total of $209.1 million. According to Entertainment Weekly, this means that Sandra Bullock is the only actress whose star status was used to market a film that reached the $200 million mark in the US box office.
