Avatar Crosses $1 Billion Worldwide in 17 Days

Published by Jeff Leins on January 3, 2010

Avatar is now the fourth-highest grossing movie of all time.

20th Century Fox’s crossed the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office, passing 2008’s The Dark Knight ($1B) and gaining quickly on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest ($1.07B) and The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King ($1.12B).  The astonishing feat was accomplished in just 17 days in theaters.

At the domestic box office, James Cameron’s epic repeated for a first place finish three consecutive weekends.  Competing with no new openers and audiences hung over from New Year’s Eve, Avatar made an estimated $68.3 million (only a 10% drop).  It set the record for the highest New Year’s Day (Friday) at $25.3M, which helped the 3-D movie blow by the $300 million mark in just 15 days.  It’s current U.S. total sits at $352.1 million, the second largest for movies released in 2009 and the second fastest to the $350M milestone.  Batman’s in for a battle.

The rest of the field remained virtually unchanged.  Sherlock Holmes and Alvin and the Chipmunks 2 continue to perform in the shadow of Cameron’s blockbuster, earning $38.4M and $36.6M respectively.

Meanwhile, the Weinstein Company’s Nine fell to ninth with a $14M cumulative total well short of the musical’s $80M budget.  Clint Eastwood’s Invictus continues to struggle at half its budget ($60M).  Both seem out of the running for awards consideration at this point.

I don’t expect much to change next weekend either, as Avatar continues rolling over newcomers.  Next week is vampire movie (because we needed another one of those) Daybreakers, rom-com Leap Year, and offbeat Michael Cera film Youth in Revolt.

3-Day U.S. Weekend Estimates:
1. Avatar  $68.3 million
2. Sherlock Holmes  $38.4 million
3. Alvin and the Chipmunks 2  $36.6 million
4. It’s Complicated  $18.7 million
5. The Blind Side  $12.7 million
6. Up in the Air  $11.4 million
7. The Princess and the Frog  $10 million
8. Did You Hear About the Morgans?  $5.2 million
9. Nine  $4.3 million
10. Invictus  $4.1 million