Thunder strikes a 5th time in first place for Avatar. According to BoxOfficeMojo the James Cameron sci-fi epic managed to pull a 5th consecutive first place in the US this past weekend with $41.3 million (Sunday numbers are estimates) having the smallest drop (17.9%) in the top 10. The last movie that managed five weekends in first place was M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense in August 1999. That’s more then 10 years ago according to my limited mathematical knowledge.
So far Avatar has grossed $491.7 million in the US, passing Star Wars: A New Hope ($460.9) for 3rd place on the all time chart on Saturday. Next up is The Dark Knight ($533.3) by the end of this week. After that it’s smooth sailing for this blue iceberg to sink the unsinkable ship, Titanic ($600.7).
Worldwide things are looking even better for the Na’vi (and Fox) with a total of $1.6 billion after just one month.
In second place at the US box office we have a new entry, The Book of Eli starring Denzel Washington and directed by the Hughes Brothers (From Hell) with $31.6 million, this being the closest a movie has got so far to beating Avatar. This is also the second biggest opening in Denzel’s career (American Gangster made $43.5).
In third place we have The Lovely Bones expanding from 3 to 2563 theaters for a better then expected $17 million. After bad reviews, a mediocre limited run ($0.4) and a general lack of attention from any awards ceremony many thought this Peter Jackson directed movie will bomb, but it seems Paramount somehow managed to turn this around by marketing the movie mainly for a young female audience in the past weeks. It’s still a long way from profitability with a production budget standing at $100 million but you have to start somewhere.
Rounding up the top 5 are the Alvin and the Chipmunks 2 and Sherlock Holmes with 11.5 and 9.8 respectively. The Squeakquel now stands at $192.5 million while Sherlock is a bit slower at $180 million and still on track to just pass the $200 million mark before the end of its run.
The US Top 10 looks like this:
| TW | LW | Title (click to view) | Studio | Weekend Gross | % Change | Theater Count / Change | Average | Total Gross | Budget* | Week # | |
| 1 | 1 | Avatar | Fox | $41,300,000 | -17.9% | 3,285 | -137 | $12,572 | $491,767,000 | - | 5 |
| 2 | N | The Book of Eli | WB | $31,615,000 | - | 3,111 | - | $10,162 | $31,615,000 | $80 | 1 |
| 3 | - | The Lovely Bones | P/DW | $17,060,000 | +44,129.0% | 2,563 | +2,560 | $6,656 | $17,527,000 | $100 | 6 |
| 4 | 3 | Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel | Fox | $11,500,000 | -30.6% | 3,296 | -345 | $3,489 | $192,592,000 | $75 | 4 |
| 5 | 2 | Sherlock Holmes | WB | $9,825,000 | -40.8% | 3,173 | -453 | $3,096 | $180,018,000 | $90 | 4 |
| 6 | N | The Spy Next Door | LGF | $9,700,000 | - | 2,924 | - | $3,317 | $9,700,000 | - | 1 |
| 7 | 5 | It’s Complicated | Uni. | $7,672,000 | -30.3% | 2,670 | -285 | $2,873 | $88,224,000 | $85 | 4 |
| 8 | 6 | Leap Year | Uni. | $5,828,000 | -36.7% | 2,512 | +1 | $2,320 | $17,529,000 | $19 | 2 |
| 9 | 7 | The Blind Side | WB | $5,565,000 | -26.1% | 2,408 | -472 | $2,311 | $226,774,000 | $29 | 9 |
| 10 | 8 | Up in the Air | Par. | $5,460,000 | -23.7% | 2,107 | -111 | $2,591 | $62,833,000 | $25 | 7 |
Prometheus
The Dark Knight Rises
The Hobbit
Man of Steel
Amazing Spider-Man
Skyfall
Star Trek 2
The Wolverine