Film Gecko » Box Office News

‘Avatar’ tops $1.64 billion worldwide

Jane Boursaw — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 03:00:00 +0000

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 is Fox’s “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakel,” which now stands at $196 million for its four-week total. Aaaalvin!!!

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Avatar still reigns supreme at box office

Jane Boursaw — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 04:55:00 +0000

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 sixth place with $9.2 million.
“The Blind Side” was seventh with $7.75 million.
“Up in the Air” came in at eighth with $7.10 million.
Dimension Films’ Michael Cera comedy “Youth in Revolt” took in $7 million in ninth place.

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‘Avatar’ earns $1 billion worldwide! James Cameron crowned King of the World again!

Jane Boursaw — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 04:43:17 +0000

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 Side" ($12.7 million)

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Do you want an ‘Avatar’ sequel?

Jane Boursaw — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 14:00:00 +0000

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 by the L.A. Times, Cameron briefly explored the idea.

“We have some story ideas about how to branch out into other moons of Polyphemus and the Alpha Centauri A solar system," said Cameron. Polyphemus is the gas giant planet that the moon Pandora orbits.

And an MTV story noted the possibility of a trilogy that continues to follow the story of Jake Sully and Neytiri.

Let’s face it, there’s a lot that could be told in future “Avatar” movies. They could probably expand things right on Pandora, but of course, even moreso on other planets.

Do you want to see an “Avatar” sequel (or two or three)?

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‘New Moon’ Fever Overseas!

Jane Boursaw — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:47:46 +0000

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?

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‘2012’ kills at box office

Jane Boursaw — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:45:08 +0000

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

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Michael Jackson continues to break records – even though he’s dead

Jane Boursaw — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 03:43:39 +0000

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 It’ is outpacing ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,’ ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,’ and ‘Star Trek’ as one of our top pre-sellers this year.”

I’ll check out the movie when it hits theaters, but I can’t say I’m ultra-geeked over it or anything. I think people are just fascinated by this mysterious guy, especially now that he’s no longer with us. It’s set to open on Oct. 28, 2009, in select theaters.

Were you one of the manic ticket buyers? Looking forward to this documentary? Check out the trailer here.

Image: Sony Pictures Entertainment

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Zombies rule at box office – Oct. 2 – 4, 2009

Jane Boursaw — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 02:56:51 +0000

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

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Is Warners jumping the gun with a Sherlock Holmes sequel?

Jane Boursaw — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 02:25:18 +0000

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 “Justice League: Mortal.”

Susan Downey, Dan Lin and Joel Silver produced "Holmes," with Guy Ritchie directing. Robert Downey, Jr. plays the title character, with Jude Law as his protege Watson, and Rachel McAdams as his love interest Irene Adler.

It’s more common these days for a studio to develop sequels ahead of the first film’s release, to get the second one into production as fast as possible. Warners also began work on a sequel to “The Hangover” before the first film premiered — though nothing was set in stone until the box office numbers were in.

Any thoughts on this? Are they jumping the gun with a Sherlock Holmes sequel?

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Fox thrilled with All About Steve box office numbers

Jane Boursaw — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 03:22:00 +0000

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 a laugh riot, which it wasn’t. Still, “All About Steve” managed to beat out Gerard Butler’s “Gamer,” which scored only $9 million in its first weekend. And that was more than twice as much as Mike Judge’s “Extract,” which opened in 10th place at $4 million.

Here are the weekend estimates, Sept. 4-6, from Box Office Mojo:

The Final Destination, $12.43M
All About Steve, $11.20M
Inglourious Basterds, $10.84M
Gamer, $9M
District 9, $7M
Halloween II, $5.60M
Julie & Julia, $5.20M
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, $5.10M
The Time Traveler’s Wife, $4.21M
Extract, $4.18M
Shorts, $2.60M
G-Force, $1.97M

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