Good grief! “Avatar” has reached $1.64 billion worldwide!
That means it will soon eclipse “Titanic,” which earned $1.843 billion. James Cameron truly IS King of the World at this point.
In other box office news, “The Book of Eli” opened well in second place with an estimated $38 million for the weekend. It’s Warner Bros’ biggest January opening ever (usually a wasteland for movies) and Denzel Washington’s second-biggest opening after 2007’s “American Gangster.”
After playing in just a few theaters since December 11, Peter Jackson’s “The Lovely Bones” expanded and earned $20.5 million for the weekend. In fourth place …read more

James Cameron’s sci-fi blockbuster “Avatar” is still ruling at the box office four weekends in a row. The tally for this weekend is an estimated $48.5 million, giving it $429 million domestic and $1.34 billion worldwide.
Other numbers:

“Sherlock Holmes” finished second with $16.6 million.
“Alvin & The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel” was third with $16.3 million.
Lionsgate’s vampire thriller “Daybreakers,” starring Willem Dafoe and Ethan Hawke, scored $15 million in fourth place.
Universal’s “It’s Complicated,” with Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin came in at fifth with $11 million. 
Universal’s romantic comedy “Leap Year,” starring Amy Adams and Matthew Goode, debuted in …read more

James Cameron must be feeling like the King of the World! right about now. "Avatar" has made $1.02 billion dollars worldwide in just three weeks. And it topped the domestic box office again, as well. That rumored $500 million budget is paying off bigtime for Cameron and his investors.
I’m not surprised. It really is a great movie, even though moviegoers are having a love/hate relationship with Avatar’s political/environmental message. 
Here’s the rundown on the weekend numbers:
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 …read more

As soon as I walked out of the theater after seeing “Avatar,” I started thinking this franchise could go anywhere. And they basically set things up to do just that, with most of the humans returning to their ravaged earth and the Pandorans taking back control of their planet.
And based on the impressive box office numbers at this writing – it’s grossed $745 million worldwide — I’m guessing it’ll have no problem recouping at least double its $400 million (or more) budget.
Director James Cameron didn’t waste any time jumping on the sequel bandwagon. In a Q&A hosted …read more

Summit’s “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” isn’t scheduled to hit U.S. theaters until midnight tonight, but it’s already scoring high – way high – with theaters around the globe. Here’s how the numbers shake out as of this afternoon:

Australia: 466 screens, $1.6 million
France: 751 theaters, $4.26 million
Italy: 625 screens, $2.7 million
Spain: 652 screens, $2.2 million

Most of the shows are sold out in my neck of the woods (Traverse City, Michigan), including ALL seven of the midnight showings.
Got your tickets yet?
 
Image: TM and © 2009 Summit Entertainment, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Roland Emmerich’s disaster flick “2012” starring John Cusack slayed all the other contenders at the box office this weekend.
“A Christmas Carol” came in second, with the sleeper hit “Precious” placing third. Here are the numbers from Box Office Mojo:

2012, $65.23M
A Christmas Carol, $22.30M
Precious, $5.87M
The Men Who Stare at Goats, $5.86M
Michael Jackson’s This Is It, $5.07M
The Fourth Kind, $4.60M
Couples Retreat, $4.16M
Paranormal Activity, $4.04M
Law Abiding Citizen, $3.79M
The Box, $3.15M
Pirate Radio, $2.90M
Where the Wild Things Are, $2.41M

Image: Sony Pictures Releasing

No one can ever accuse Michael Jackson of doing anything small. Even from beyond the grave, the King of Pop is breaking records.
His forthcoming tour documentary, “This Is It,” has sold out worldwide. The movie has already sold out more than 1,000 showtimes on Fandango alone, and is currently the top-selling film on Fandango, representing 27% of weekly ticket sales on the site. Experts predict it’ll bring in nearly $250,000 million dollars.
Theater owners are adding extra showtimes to meet the demand, says Fandango’s Chief Operating Officer Rick Butler. “
"At this point in the film’s sales cycle, ‘This Is …read more

Woody Harrelson’s “Zombieland” ruled the box office this weekend, with “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” coming in second. Here’s the weekend estimates from Box Office Mojo:

Zombieland, $25M
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, $16.7M
Toy Story / Toy Story 2 (3D), $12.5M
The Invention of Lying, $7.35M
Surrogates, $7.34M
Capitalism: A Love Story, $4.85M
Whip It, $4.85M
Fame, $4.75M
The Informant!, $3.8M
Love Happens, $2.77M
Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself, $2.67M
Pandorum, $1.92M

Image: Sony Pictures Entertainment

The release of “Sherlock Holmes” is still three months away (it hits theaters Dec. 25, 2009 – I know what our traditional family Christmas movie will be this year!), but a sequel is already in the works.
I guess they’re expecting gigantic box office numbers, and I hope they’re right. Footage of the film played well at Comic-Con, so maybe they’re banking on that.  
In the new pic, Brad Pitt is in talks to star as Holmes’ nemesis Moriarty, and Warner Brothers is set to bring on Kieran and Michele Mulroney to pen the draft. They’re the writers behind …read more

Labor Day is never a good weekend to release a movie, and the top two movies brought in the usual small numbers. “The Final Destination” grossed $12.4 million, while “All About Steve” brought in $11.2 million.
Here’s the thing, though. Apparently, Fox is still pretty happy with those “All About Steve” numbers. According to Yahoo Movies, some Fox official said they were "thrilled with that number.” Apparently, they were expecting a lot less.
I expected more from the movie, awarding it only 2.5 out of 5 Geckos. It was interesting, but the trailer made it seem like it’d be …read more