Weekend Box Office: Avatar Set New Records

As if it’s any surprise, James Cameron’s new, massively talked about 3-D masterpiece Avatar racked in the big bucks over the Holiday weekend. With tickets costing about $2-$3 more for 3-D and IMAX theaters it was able to beat out Guy Ritchie’s opening weekend for his Robert Downey Jr action-blockbuster Sherlock Holmes. Really the two films are about equal and would make a great action packed double feature if you don’t mind swapping theaters and sitting on your ass for an extreme amount of time.

The sad news, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel trailed right behind them. I know that you have to keep the kiddies entertained but it’s insane that they can still drip than amount of money from the Chipmunks. Whatever happened to the recession and cutting back?

1. Avatar| LW 1 | Fox | Weekend Box Office $75,000,000 | Average Per Theater $21,701 | Weekend Gross $212,268,000 | Week 2
2. Sherlock Holmes | New | WB | Weekend Box Office $65,380,0000 | Average Per Theater $18,031 | Weekend Gross $65,380,000 | Week 1
3. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel | New | Fox | Weekend Box Office $50,200,0000 | Average Per Theater $13,568 | Weekend Gross $77,051,000 | Week 1
4. It’s Complicated | New | Uni. | Weekend Box Office $22,114,0000 | Average Per Theater $7,660 | Weekend Gross $22,114,000 | Week 1
5. Up in the Air | LW 8 | Par. | Weekend Box Office $11,755,0000 | Average Per Theater $6,203 | Weekend Gross $24,518,000 | Production Budget $25 | Week 4
6. The Blind Side | LW 3 | WB | Weekend Box Office $11,730,0000 | Average Per Theater $4,241 | Weekend Gross $184,387,000 | Production Budget $29 | Week 6
7. The Princess and the Frog | LW 2 | BV | Weekend Box Office $8,683,0000 | Average Per Theater $2,499 | Weekend Gross $63,357,000 | Production Budget $105 | Week 5
8. Nine | LW 20 | Wein. | Weekend Box Office $5,544,0000 | Average Per Theater $3,926 | Weekend Gross $5,922,000 | Production Budget $80 | Week 2
9. Did You Hear About the Morgans? | LW 4 | Sony | Weekend Box Office $5,000,0000 | Average Per Theater $1,840 | Weekend Gross $15,597,000 $58 | Week 2
10. Invictus | LW 6 | WB | Weekend Box Office $4,390,0000 | Average Per Theater $2,032 | Weekend Gross $23,365,000 | Production Budget $60 | Week 3

I was secretly hoping that The Princess and the Frog would beat out Alvin and the Chipmunks over the holiday. I knew it wasn’t going to happen, but it would have been a nice Christmas miracle. Hopefully it has done well enough to warrant another old school animation because there really isn’t anything else like them.

It is nice to see Up in the Air making a kind of come back and building strength with all the award nominations and good buzz about it. It’s such a great film, it deserves it all!

What did you pay to see this weekend?