Variety reports the top movies, in terms of box office take, for the week of 25-31 December 2009. James Cameron’s animated Avatar was the 800-pound gorilla, holding the #1 spot for a second week, grabbing $146.7 million, for a two-week total of $283.8 million. Robert Downey Jr’s Victorian James Bond, Sherlock Holmes, opened at #2, snatching $102.3 million in its first week in release. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (which was open for only two days last week), slipped from #2 to #3, grossing $94.0 million, for a one-plus week total of $120.7 million. The Princess and the Frog fell from #3 to #6, earning $21.4 million, for a five-week total of $76.1 million.
Twilight: New Moon fell from #7 to #11, sucking in $6.0 million, for a six-week total of $283.5 million. Disney’s A Christmas Carol fell from #9 to #13, earning $2.2 million, for a eight-week total of $136.8 million. 2012 fell from #12 to #15, grabbing $1.8 million, for a seven-week total of $162.3 million. The Road held steady at #18, bringing in $900 thousand, for a five-week total of $6.3 million. Fantastic Mr. Fox slipped from #17 to #19, nabbing $700 thousand, for a seven-week total of $18.6 million. Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus opened in very limited release on Christmas Day, and is only showing on 48 screens, yet managed to find its way to #23 on the list, earning just over $300 thousand. The Imaginarium… was Heath Ledger’s last film; he died during filming, and production shut down for a while. It was later resumed, with Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell finishing Ledger’s role.
Planet 51 (last week’s #16) plummeted out of the top 25 in its sixth week in release, having grossed $39.2 million.
SFScope reviews of movies mentioned in this article:
Forget the Sherlock Holmes you’ve read; this one’s more a Victorian James Bond, but a heck of a lot of fun by Ian Randal Strock