It was a very busy holiday weekend at the box office, perhaps one of the busiest of all-time, as James Cameron’s 3D outer-space epic Avatar just barely beats out three highly-anticipated new holiday films to take the number one spot in the box office for a second week in a row. Avatar, which is now in approximately 3,456 theaters enjoyed some terrific word-of-mouth making $21,701 per theater for an additional $75 million in its second week of release. In two weeks Avatar has now made an estimated $212 million, which is very close to recouping its purported $237 million production budget and is posed to make back the estimated $150 million that 20th Century Fox spent on marketing and advertising.

1. Avatar – $75 million
2. Sherlock Holmes – $65.3 million
3. Alvin and The Chipmunks: The Squeakuel – $50.2 million
4. It’s Complicated – $22.1 million
5. Up In The Air – $11.75 million
6. The Blind Side – $11.73 million
7. The Princess and the Frog – $8.6 million
8. Nine – $5.5 million
9. Did You Hear About The Morgans? – $5 million
10. Invictus – $4.3 million

Source: MovieWeb

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James Cameron launched his science-fiction epic “Avatar” into a safe orbit as the costly film soared to No. 1 with $73 $77 million domestically and $159.2 $165.5 million overseas, for a $232.2 $242.5 million worldwide total.

With that big a start, distributor 20th Century Fox was quick to proclaim it made a good investment with the estimated $400 million spent to make and market the film, which is Cameron’s first narrative feature since 1997’s “Titanic,” the king of modern blockbusters.

“Absolutely. No question,” said Chris Aronson, head of distribution for the studio, which reported stellar reaction in exit polls from audiences after seeing “Avatar.” “The word of mouth is something that I don’t know I’ve ever seen in this business before.”

“Avatar” was a test case for the future of digital 3-D projection, which until now has been a hit with audiences mainly on animated family films.

The film fell short of the record for December debuts of $77.2 million set two years ago by Will Smith’s “I Am Legend.” But it did break the record for a film opening in 3-D, previously held by last summer’s “Up” with $68.1 million.

“What they spent on this movie was totally justified, and they’re going to more than earn it back,” said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com.

Source: MSNBC

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Avatar is off with a good start at the box office.

James Cameron’s space fantasy “Avatar” has launched with a solid $27 million opening day at the box office.

Storms in the East likely will hurt the movie’s prospects to approach the December opening weekend record of $77.2 million set by Will Smith’s “I Am Legend.”

“Avatar” did almost as much business Friday as Cameron’s last narrative film, 1997’s “Titanic,” over its entire opening weekend. “Titanic” had a $28.6 million debut weekend, but remained afloat for months at the top of the box office as it took in a record $600 million domestically.

Source: AP

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Early buzz on twitter and blogs around the net also confirm this positive buzz, Avatar are looking to be a great success judging from early reviews. I can’t wait till next Friday when I get to experience Avatar for myself the first time.

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