Weekend Box Office: Can Nothing Stop “Avatar”
Everyone loves ”Avatar.” Even the French.
Take a guess at what’s in the number one spot.
1. Avatar $30,000.000
2. Edge of Darkness $17,120,000
3. When in Rome $12,065,000
4. The Tooth Fairy $10,000,000
5. The Book of Eli $8,770,000
Seven weeks and counting for “Avatar.” Most movies would feel pretty good about having $30,000,000, but the big blue people probably think that’s just fair. With $594.5 from North American screenings, “Avatar” is still just short of “Titanic’s” domestic box office record of $600.8 million (during which it took the number one slot fifiteen times), but should probably pass it by Monday night.
“Edge of Darkness” put in a respectable showing as one of the two new releases this weekend. Audiences were almost completely split between men and women (53% and 47%), with 56% of ticket buyers over 35 (thanks to The Hollywood Reporter for the stats). It looks like the presence of Mel Gibson didn’t put have any real negative or positive event; probably the same type of audiences showed up who would have been there if Harrison Ford had starred (and boy, he probably wishes he had, considering the extraordinary tanking of “Extraordinary Measures”). This one will probably hang around in the top five for a few weeks as the adult alternative to some of the upcoming younger-oriented films.
“When in Rome,” the romantic comedy starring Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel, did probably as well as it could expect to do. THR says that 60% of the audiences were made up of couples. I’m guessing at least one half of those couples were dragged there or were making up for some other event, such as a summer movie trip to see “GI Joe.” Or maybe they were there to force one or the other member of the couple repent for a transgression. That’s how bad this movie looks.
And so January, usually one of the worst months on the movie release calendar, limps to an end. February isn’t that much better, but at this point we’ll take anything. Then screens will begin to show some signs of life in March, which can’t come quickly enough.
