Variety reports the top movies, in terms of box office take, for the week of 8-14 January 2010. James Cameron’s animated Avatar is racking up huge numbers (though very few new films open this time of year), holding onto the #1 position for a fourth straight week. This week, it grabbed $69.9 million, for a four-week total of $450.5 million. Robert Downey Jr’s Victorian James Bond, Sherlock Holmes also held strong, maintaining the #2 spot, and snatching $21.6 million, for a three-week total of $170.2 million. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel held steady at #3, grossing $19.2 million, for a three week total of $181.1 million. Three new films opened this week: Daybreakers (at #4), Leap Year (at #6), and Youth in Revolt (at #9). The Princess and the Frog fell from #7 to #10, earning $5.6 million, for a seven-week total of $93.5 million.
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, which fell out of the top 25 last week, is finally starting to get wide release (though it’s still only in about 600 theatres, versus the 3,400 and 3,600 of Avatar and Sherlock Holmes). The Imaginarium… grossed $2.5 million, for a three-week total of $3.8 million. Twilight: New Moon fell from #11 to #14, sucking in $2.3 million, for an eight-week total of $291.3 million. Fantastic Mr. Fox slipped from #21 to #23, nabbing $450 thousand, for a nine-week total of $19.7 million. The Road fell from #18 to #25, bringing in just under $400 thousand, for a seven-week total of $7.5 million.
Falling out of the top 25 this week were:
2012 (last week’s #14) in its ninth week in release (total domestic box office: $164.1 million)
Disney’s A Christmas Carol (last week’s #20) in its tenth week in release ($137.6 million)
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (last week’s #24) in its seventeenth week in release ($124.5 million)
Where the Wild Things Are (last week’s #25) in its thirteenth week in release ($76.9 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