How many times can you write about Avatar being number one at the box office? It’s like a record that’s broken, or like that Bill Murray movie where he’s repeating Groundhog Day over and over again (what’s it called again?). I know the story is that James Cameron was waiting for the technology to catch up to his idea. I’m thinking he was waiting for the right moment to unleash it in theaters; at a time where the competition was at its weakest point. Bringing in another $30 million, which would be a carrot to any studio for an opening weekend, the bigger story is Avatar surpassing Titanic for worldwide gross. And it should cross $600 million in domestic gross on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Forecasting the box office for this upcoming weekend, Dear John and From Paris with Love aren’t enticing enough to knock Avatar out of it’s number one spot. Sorry Channing Tatum fans. This Tuesday Oscar nominations will be read, so contenders like Up in the Air and Crazy Heart could see an increase in box office gross. As will Avatar, because you just know it’s going to get a ton of nominations for special effects and maybe for Best Picture too.
So is there any movie that can dethrone James Cameron’s sci-fi opus? Universal is hoping its production-plagued Wolfman will scare up enough viewers. But it’s got the restricted rating and the Valentine’s Day opening won’t help, since most men will be dragged to see Gary Marshall’s syrupy, let’s-see-how-many-name-actors-we-can-get-fit-into-one-movie romantic comedy, Valentine’s Day – New Line Cinema’s second attempt at trying to match the quality of Love Actually (the other try was last year’s He’s Just Not That Into You).
Warner Bros. hoped that audiences had forgiven Mel Gibson for his much-publicized ant-Semitic remarks and that his headlining Edge of Darkness could match the opening weekend of last year’s Taken with Liam Neeson. Darkness took $17 million versus $25 million for Taken, though Liam Neeson didn’t have to worry about gigantic blue aliens.
And poor Kristen Bell. After gaining a cult following for her underrated series Veronica Mars she’s yet to find prosperity in films. While she was a supporting act in Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Couples Retreat, When in Rome was supposed to be her breakout hit. But with only $13 million in receipts, audiences clearly weren’t ready for a slapstick romantic comedy in January. And with a title like When in Rome you’d at least expect the soundtrack to feature this song:
Fans of The Blind Side mourned the news that the Sandra Bullock film dropped out of the top 10. It made $3 million, which brings its culmulative total to $238 million. Allow me to borrow a phrase that Walter Mathau used a time or two in Grumpy Old Men: “Holy Moley!” Assuredly, Bullock will get an Oscar nomination and the film will re-enter the top 10 next week. The Tooth Fairy‘s second week saw a small drop (less than thirty percent) to finish in fourth place with $10 million. Apparently audiences have embraced The Rock as “The People’s Tooth Fairy.”
Sherlock Holmes is eying to pass $200 million, while It’s Complicated reached the $100 million mark. Of the films currently in theaters, look for Crazy Heart to climb up the charts now that Jeff Bridges has been picking up award accolades left and right. An Oscar nomination means additional screens and a bigger box office take as more people get to see his remarkable turn as the over-the-hill country singer Bad Blake.
1. Avatar – $30 million ($594 mil.)
2. Edge of Darkness – $17.1 million ($17.1 mil.)
3. When In Rome – $12.1 million ($12.1 mil.)
4. The Tooth Fairy – $10 million ($26.1 mil.)
5. The Book of Eli – $8.8 million ($74.4 mil.)
6. Legion – $6.8 million ($28.6 mil.)
7. The Lovely Bones – $4.7 million ($38 mil.)
8. Sherlock Holmes – $4.5 million ($198 mil.)
9. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel – $4 million ($209 mil.)
10. It’s Complicated – $3.7 million ($104 mil.)
Source: Box Office Mojo
