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by Nicole Pedersen Posted:January 3rd, 2010 at 10:43 am
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Happy New Year? If you work at News Corp, oh hell yes it is! After wrapping up 2009 as the second highest-grossing domestic feature of the year (in just 14 days), director James Cameron’s Avatar skipped not a beat as it entered the new decade. The film has now claimed the all-time domestic records for both its second and third weekends and has just surpassed The Dark Knight to lock down fourth place in the all-time (not adjusted for inflation) box office charts worldwide.
| Title | Weekend | Total | |
| 1 | Avatar | $68,300,000 | $352.1 |
| 2 | Sherlock Holmes | $38,400,000 | $140.7 |
| 3 | Alvin & the Chipmunks 2 | $36,600,000 | $157.3 |
| 4 | It’s Complicated | $18,700,000 | $59.1 |
| 5 | The Blind Side | $12,600,000 | $209 |
| 6 | Up in the Air | $11,400,000 | $45 |
| 7 | Princess & the Frog | $10,013,000 | $86 |
| 8 | Did You Hear About the Morgans? | $5,200,000 | $25.6 |
| 9 | Nine | $4,250,000 | $14 |
| 10 | Invictus | $4,130,000 | $40.7 |
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Here’s a breakdown of the Avatar estimates as of Sunday: here at home the film’s total stands at $352.1 million. Add in overseas estimates of $670.2 million for a staggering new worldwide total of $1.022 billion dollars. Many box office watchers chose to be circumspect about the chances that Avatar would reach this level so quickly. With a budget somewhere over $300 million, the chances for disaster were very real. But I believe it is now time to throw caution to the wind and start looking forward to the day that Avatar moves ahead of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and Lord of the Rings: Return of the King to become the second biggest movie of all-time – right behind that most untouchable of box office records – the 1.8 billion belonging to Titanic.
Now, before we get too carried away let me remind you that these numbers are still estimates. Even so, the rock solid numbers that Avatar has been pulling in day after day tell me that these worldwide figures can’t be too far off. On its third weekend in theatres Avatar fell only 9.6% over the Christmas weekend for a total of $68.3 million and a gigantic per screen average of $19,700. The other thing to keep in mind is that Avatar has a clear shot at retaining number one for the next two weeks at least. Even with diminishing weekend totals going forward, James Cameron is sure to claim the top two rungs on the box office ladder before January is done.
So, hyperbole aside, what does it all mean financially? The monetary details for this most gigantic of movies are still rather murky. We have that budget estimate of $300 million, give or take, and a marketing cost in the neighborhood of $150 million. It seems that even with Cameron’s track record Fox wanted to limit its overall exposure on Avatar by bringing in equity partners to share their risk. Reports have Cameron’s deal structured so that all investors will recoup their costs before he begins to see a profit. All in all it looks like Avatar began to pay dividends on December 29th – the day it crossed the $250 million mark domestically.
Now, I know that a lot of you who watch these figures are aware that all-time box office figures can be misleading. There are many, many factors that simply are not taken into account when considering a film’s overall numbers. In the case of Avatar we also have the fact that the film’s tickets cost, on average, one third more than a standard 2D film’s cost. On a level playing field, who knows where Avatar would shake out?
But let’s put all of that aside for now. Just for today let’s enjoy the fact that we are witnessing box office history in the making. We can all worry about the math later…
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Related Links
- AVATAR Officially Takes the Title of All-Time Highest Domestic Box Office Gross
- AVATAR Achieves The Highest Worldwide Gross of All Time with $1.84 Billion
- Weekend Box Office – Winter Holds AVATAR to $73 Million Domestic; $232 Million Worldwide
- Weekend Box Office – HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 1 Scores a Franchise-Best Opening with $125.1 Million
- James Cameron Talks 3D, TITANIC, T2, STAR WARS, AVATAR 2, and CLEOPATRA
Avatar, The American Idol of movies.
Avatar, The American Idol of movies.
JaySin420 @ December 19th, 2009 11:06 am
“I love how nobody will admit what a bomb this movie is. 27 mil opening night and it opened right before X-Mas? That’s terrible for a movie that cost half a billion to make. New Moon made 72 mil by comparison.”
lol you mad you were wrong and still are trying to bash it without seeing it yourself?
JaySin420 @ December 19th, 2009 11:06 am
“I love how nobody will admit what a bomb this movie is. 27 mil opening night and it opened right before X-Mas? That’s terrible for a movie that cost half a billion to make. New Moon made 72 mil by comparison.”
lol you mad you were wrong and still are trying to bash it without seeing it yourself?
Yeah he is obviously pissed. I said he was wrong then and the numbers just keep hammering it home. Its funny too b/c in addition to its incredible financial success, Avatar is at 83% on rottentomatoes, which means it has crushed Jaysin’s New Moon comparison in all aspects.
Yeah he is obviously pissed. I said he was wrong then and the numbers just keep hammering it home. Its funny too b/c in addition to its incredible financial success, Avatar is at 83% on rottentomatoes, which means it has crushed Jaysin’s New Moon comparison in all aspects.
Avatar is such a fantastic movie, I have watched it 3x already. just in case just visit my blog http://moneymakingonlinetip.blogspot.com/
Avatar is such a fantastic movie, I have watched it 3x already. just in case just visit my blog http://moneymakingonlinetip.blogspot.com/
those numbers will keep rising for sure.
honestly when i first heard how much money it took to make this movie, i predicted a flop in earnings. i was wrong WAY WRONG. i actually realized this after seeing the last trailer of it before it came out. and then i saw it and was like “o yea, shake that money maker”
http://ezinearticles.com/?Virility-Ex-Pills-Review&id=3476568
those numbers will keep rising for sure.
honestly when i first heard how much money it took to make this movie, i predicted a flop in earnings. i was wrong WAY WRONG. i actually realized this after seeing the last trailer of it before it came out. and then i saw it and was like “o yea, shake that money maker”
http://ezinearticles.com/?Virility-Ex-Pills-Review&id=3476568
haha look at the avatar fans selling their blogs, what a shock. Cameron obviously taught you guys well.
I’m sorry but making a billion or trillion dollars doesn’t make it a good movie, its a terribly written movie with fantastic visuals. I don’t hate things for no reason, I tried watching it and I just didn’t enjoy it at all.
I will admit I was wrong about how much its going to make but again that doesn’t change that Avatar is not a good movie, it might be a great video game or Universal Studios ride though.
I know I’m in the minority with this but I’ll take good acting over pretty colors any day.
haha look at the avatar fans selling their blogs, what a shock. Cameron obviously taught you guys well.
I’m sorry but making a billion or trillion dollars doesn’t make it a good movie, its a terribly written movie with fantastic visuals. I don’t hate things for no reason, I tried watching it and I just didn’t enjoy it at all.
I will admit I was wrong about how much its going to make but again that doesn’t change that Avatar is not a good movie, it might be a great video game or Universal Studios ride though.
I know I’m in the minority with this but I’ll take good acting over pretty colors any day.
It had a spirit and aura about it that just soared threw the theatre. It pulled you in throughout the movie. Made me feel like a curios child with not a care in the world, as if i were in the movie myself.The visuals were amazingggg, the way the camera captured their emotions, movements .. cg of course. Saldana and Worthington were great in this movie. I dont know anyone else who couldve played the parts better than them. This movie is a Fairy tale, it's a tragedy, an adventure, its got a quiet subtle humor to it, depth, history, its realistic …. this may very well happen one day … humans=exploitation
Avatar 5 Stars
….this man makes Grand movies
New Moon is pop candy. Nothing more.
You might not have liked it or it may not be your type of film but an 83% on Rottentomatoes indicates that it is not a bad movie, so saying it is a bad movie is inaccurate. In addition, a film that continues to enjoy financial success week after week and has little to no drop up from week to week in almost every case is a good film b/c this success is built almost exclusively on positive word of mouth about the quality of the film. The funny thing is that the film you cited in your original criticism is truly a bad film. New Moon has a 28% on Rottentomatoes and its poor financial performance after the first weekend also indicates that the film was bad b/c a significant drop after the first weekend almost always is the result of bad word of mouth.
I can't believe there's a dork on here slamming Avatar when new moon is basically a vagina moistening movie for teenage girls with absolutely no redeeming features whatsoever.
It's nothing more than Bratz for teenagers, you fool.
I can't believe there's a dork on here slamming Avatar when new moon is basically a vagina moistening movie for teenage girls with absolutely no redeeming features whatsoever.
It's nothing more than Bratz for teenagers, you fool.
It will be great to watch We Will Rock You, i have bought tickets from
http://ticketfront.com/event/We_Will_Rock_You-t… looking forward to it.
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