Avatar Continues to Spank Booty at the Box Office

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If weekend estimates are accurate, Avatar is the box office champ for the third consecutive week, raking in an impressive post-holiday $68 million in domestic ticket sales. That puts its three week haul at $352 million and in 15th place on the highest grossing movies list. Now the “will it beat out The Dark Knight and Titanic” money watch will begin in earnest. It would be interesting if it took 12 years and another James Cameron film to best Titanic’s longstanding grip as the all-time box office champ. If you ask me, even though reviews are generally positive, I think word-of-mouth and repeat viewings have and will be key to Avatar’s success.

Rounding out the top five were Sherlock Holmes ($38M), Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, It’s Complicated ($36M), ($18M) and The Blind Side ($12M). One has to wonder if the continued success of The Blind Side will help Sandra Bullock’s Oscar chances, and I think anyone who doesn’t think Avatar won’t be one of the best picture nominees is seriously smoking the ganja. I haven’t seen Alvin and the Chipmunks (thank the Lord), but I have seen Sherlock Holmes and that film lost its luster hardcore after a second viewing. That’s one I won’t be purchasing on Blu-ray; I’m not that big of a hi-def slut.