Money Matters, Simplified.
Holiday weekend showers moolah on box office
by Ishita Sood - December 28, 2009 - comments
Avatar, which is expected to have a sequel after its lucrative opening, collected $617 million worldwide in just ten days
New York, December 28 -- Box office collections for the holiday weekend made history, when Avatar, Sherlock Holmes, and Alvin and the Chipmunks raked a colossal receipt of $278 million in U.S. and Canada alone.
Studio estimates say the holiday weekend beat the previous record of $261 million in July 2008, when The Dark Knight debuted.
“It's amazing to see one weekend with so many movies doing so much business,” said Rob Moore, vice chairman of Paramount Pictures.
What a weekend!
Cameron’s Avatar sold $75 million worth of tickets in U.S. alone, while Sherlock Holmes raked $65.4 million. Alvin and the Chipmunks collected $50.2 million over the three-day weekend.
Other movies which opened during the same time were, ‘Its Complicated’, ‘Nine’, and ‘Up in the Air’.
Nine was a total disappointment worldwide collecting only $5.9 million, while romantic comedy It's Complicated collected a decent $22.1 million. Clooney's Up in the Air did not click much with the audience and amassed a mere $11.8 million.
“What a weekend,” says Livingston. “I don't ever remember that big a diversity. When the third picture does $50 million, you've got a good marketplace. When Christmas Day falls on a Friday, it's the best day it could possibly be.”
Avatar’s exceptional performance
Avatar, the 3-D sci-fi, collected $617 million worldwide in just ten days.
“I remember when we put [“Avatar” and “Alvin”] five days apart, I was a little nervous. The market expanded to fit our movies and ‘Sherlock’,” said Fox's senior vice president of domestic distribution, Bert Livingston.
Cameron's Avatar stars the Australian actor Sam Worthington. Ticket sales in Worthington's home country were double during the holiday weekend.
A spokeswoman for the Australian chain of multiplex, Greater Union said, “It's been an absolutely massive day's trading. Avatar in 3-D is by far and away the most popular. In all of our locations it's taking two to three times the admissions for everything else.
The next most popular films in most of our cinemas appear to be Sherlock Holmes and Alvin and the Chipmunks.'”
Avatar grossed huge sums around the world with $18.5 million in France, $29.5 million in Korea, $3.2 million in Malaysia, and $2.4 million in Indonesia and Vietnam each.
In Spain and Germany, it did exceedingly well, grossing $29.9 million and $11.8 million respectively.