Avatar Tops Record-Breaking Holiday Weekend

Published by Jeff Leins on: December 27th, 2009

In its second week in theaters, James Cameron’s Avatar topped the largest weekend box office in history that totaled an estimated $264 million in sales.  The figure may be even higher once the final numbers shake out on Monday.

Cameron’s 3D epic contributed $75 million, the second biggest second weekend in history just behind The Dark Knight’s July 2008 run.  Typically movies will see around a 50% decline between weekends, but Avatar managed to drop only 2.6% from its opening on the way to $212 million domestic and already rank 7th in 2009 grosses.

On top of that, it added another $145 million overseas for an unbelievable worldwide total thus far of $617.3 million.

Warner Bros’ Sherlock Holmes put up equally impressive numbers, setting the Christmas Day record with $24.9M on the holiday opening before tallying $65.4 million through Sunday.  Outside of Iron Man, it’s the biggest weekend for stars Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, and director Guy Ritchie.

Fox’s Alvin and the Chipmunks 2 took Wednesday when it opened and settled into third over the weekend with $50.2 million.  The original kid flick made $44.2M in December 2007.

In fourth was yet another newcomer, the older-skewing It’s Complicated, with Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, and Steve Martin.  The Nancy Meyers rom-com made $22.1 million.

The top five was rounded out by Jason Reitman’s awards hopeful film, Up in the Air.  The George Clooney drama expanded to around 1,900 locations for $11.8 million.

Star-studded musical Nine didn’t see those kinds of returns as it went wide, making only $5.5 million in eighth.

The recession hasn’t affected movie studios one bit.  Thanks to Cameron’s sci-fi story, Fox reported it crossed $2.263 billion in foreign markets alone, the largest ever for a studio.  Meanwhile, Warner Bros passed the $2 billion mark domestically, the first time in history.

3-Day U.S. Weekend Estimates:
1. Avatar  $75 million
2. Sherlock Holmes  $65.4 million
3. Alvin and the Chipmunks 2  $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