1. "Avatar" ($68.3 million)
2. "Sherlock Holmes" (38.4 million)
3. "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel" ($36.6 million)
4. "It's Complicated" ($18.7 million)
5. "The Blind Side" ($12.7 million)
As expected based on Friday night's numbers, "Avatar" earned its third straight weekend box office victory with hardly any competition from its theatrical rivals. James Cameron's science fiction epic earned $68.3 million from Friday to Sunday, setting the box office record for a film in its third weekend in theaters. The final Sunday tally brings "Avatar's" domestic total to a walloping $352.1 million, with an even more massive foreign intake of $670.2 million.
Yes, Hudson, you're reading that right — "Avatar" has made $1.02 billion dollars worldwide in only three weeks in theaters. The movie's success is obviously a huge sigh of relief for Cameron and others invested in "Avatar," as even the topmost rumor of a $500 million budget would be money well spent at this point.
At its current domestic seating, it's entirely possible that continued success for "Avatar" could mean the end of "The Dark Knight" as the second highest grossing film of all time. What that also means, of course, is that James Cameron would be the lord and master behind the top two most lucrative movies of all time given the current placement of "Titanic." Cameron might not be the king of the world, but it's hard to argue his royalty when it comes to making big bucks at the box office.
The remainder of the weekend played out as expected, mirroring the results of last weekend's rankings. "Sherlock Holmes" just barely edged out "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel" at $38.4 million versus $36.6 million, while "It's Complicated" remained in the fourth place slot at $18.7 million. The only change between last weekend and this one is the fifth place finish for "The Blind Side," which crossed the $200 million threshold on Friday. Jason Reitman's "Up in the Air" fell to sixth place but still earned a respectable $11.4 million.
Tell us what you think of the continued success of "Avatar" in the comments section or on Twitter!
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