Weekend Box Office: Avatar’s Lucky Number 7!

Avatar for the win…again! James Cameron‘s latest epic refuses to die and continues to dominate as it stays on top of the box office chart for its seventh consecutive week. Last week, we all predicted that the film would would break a few well established records by this time and it has. It is now the highest international grossing film of all time surpassing its 1997 predecessor Titanic, and this week the domestic title is in its grasp with only a few million keeping it from sinking that ship for a second time.

Avatar easily brought in 30 million dollars this week because it’s competition was an R-rated drama starring Mel Gibson, and a generic romantic comedy with Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel. Both films came in at a distant number 2 and 3 with over 17 and 12 million dollars respectively. Here’s the rest of this week’s numbers…

1. Avatar | LW 1 | Fox | Weekend US Gross $30,00,000 | Average Per Theater $9,759 | Total US Gross $594,472,000 | Week 7
2. Edge of Darkness | New | WB | Weekend US Gross $17,120,000 | Average Per Theater $5,584 | Total US Gross $17,120,000 |Week 1
3. When in Rome | New |BV | Weekend US Gross $12,065,000 | Average Per Theater $4,912 | Total US Gross $12,065,000 |Week 1
4. Tooth Fairy | LW 4 | Fox | Weekend US Gross $10,000,000 | Average Per Theater $2,990 | Total US Gross $26,106,000 |Production Budget $48 |Week 2
5. The Book of Eli| LW 3 | WB | Weekend US Gross $8,770,000 | Average Per Theater $2,852| Total US Gross $74,373,000 |Production Budget $80 |Week 3
6. Legion | LW 2 | SGem | Weekend US Gross $6,800,000 | Average Per Theater $2,746 | Total US Gross $28,646,000 |Production Budget $26 |Week 2
7. The Lovely Bones | LW 5| P/DW| Weekend US Gross $4,735,000 | Average Per Theater $1,795 | Total US Gross $38,014,000 |Production Budget $65 |Week 8
8. Sherlock Holmes | LW 6 | WB | Weekend US Gross $4,510,000 | Average Per Theater $2,004 | Total US Gross $197,596,000 | Production Budget $90 | Week 6
9. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel | LW 7 | Fox | Weekend US Gross $4,000,000| Average Per Theater $1,584 | Total US Gross $209,297,000 | Production Budget $75 | Week 6
10. It’s Complicated | LW 9 | Uni. | Weekend US Gross $3,720,000 | Average Per Theater $1,775 | Total US Gross $104,027,000| Production Budget $85 | Week 6

Two films that have been overshadowed by the success of Avatar are Sherlock Holmes and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel. Holmes has made over double its budget domestically, and Alvin has already crossed the 200 million dollar mark. Plus, they’ve both remained in the top ten for 6 straight weeks, that’s not bad considering the rest of the competition.

Which one of these films did you check out last week?