Twentieth Century Fox’s Avatar brought in a worldwide figure of $1.02 billion – making it the most profitable Christmas season ever. The movie is also the fourth highest grosser in history, right behind James Cameron’s Titanic ($1.8 billion), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ($1.12 billion) and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest ($1.07 billion). Experts say Avatar could surpass the latter two with its widespread popularity and buzz.
The domestic box office over the New Year’s weekend raked in an estimated $68.3 million from 3,461 runs – which is the best figure ever for a movie running into its third weekend. Avatar, on its 17th day earned a whopping $352.1 million.
Foreign figures for the 3D science fiction fantasy brought in $133.5 million, bringing a foreign total of $670.2 million in three weeks of release. The global cumulative figures include $66.4 million from IMAX theatres.
Avatar while being in top spot as a mega-grosser – also made room for other movies to unleash their fury over the holidays.
Warner Bros.’ Sherlock Holmes featuring Robert Downey Jr. dropped by 38% to $38.4 million of 3,626 runs to bring in a domestic total of $140.7 million in its initial ten days. In foreign markets, the movie grossed around $37.6 million, bringing its global figure to $229 million.
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, another production by Fox recorded domestic figures of $157.3 over the weekend, bringing worldwide figure to $256.4 million.
The global figures of Universal’s romantic flick, It’s Complicated stood at $72.9 million while Paramount’s Up in the Air, starring heart throb George Clooney grossed approximately $11.4 million in domestic figures.