I stayed silent on the box-office potential of James Cameron's game-changing 3D release Avatar despite great temptation. If you are old enough to remember those "Titanic-Watch" columns from twelve years ago, you'll understand my hesitation. History and word of mouth favored a huge opening for Avatar; but December can also be a tricky month to launch a blockbuster. And so I kept my mouth shut until there were solid numbers to report. Here they are: Avatar launched at midnight Friday on 2,000 3D and IMAX 3D locations where it grossed $3.5 million. The estimates for all of December 18th put the film at $27 million from its 3,452 theatres. That's good enough for third on the all-time December opening list. Bad weather is likely to keep Saturday figures lower than expected, which means that the film may not reach its projected 3 day take of $80 million. But for anyone who is disappointed that Avatar did not demolish the box office right out of the gate, know this: this movie is going to be a BIG player well into January. Plus, it's always a mistake to bet against James Cameron. More on Avatar plus full weekend coverage tomorrow.
Title |
Friday |
Total |
|
1 |
Avatar |
$27,000,000 |
$27 |
2 |
The Princess & the Frog |
$3,400,000 |
$35.9 |
3 |
The Blind Side |
$3,200,000 |
$157.9 |
4 |
Did You Hear About the Morgans? |
$2,300,000 |
$2.3 |
5 |
New Moon |
$1,400,000 |
$271.6 |