Weekend Recap: Avatarded

Well, I was right about Avatar staying No. 1, which it did while barely dropping off yet again, but I thought Edge of Darkness would give it a serious run for its money, which it did not with only $17 million. Looks like Mel Gibson failed his test.

Avatar has now become the first film to make $2 billion worldwide and it’s almost at $600 M domestic, which means it should eclipse Titanic by as early as Wednesday. Incredible. It could easily get scarily close to $700 M before it finally putters out.

I butchered the rest of the Top 5 this weekend, predicting When in Rome would flop (props to Kristen Bell) and that Legion would come in third despite my prediction of a 50 percent drop, only it dropped 60 percent and fell out of the Top 5.

1. Avatar – $31.3 M (weekend) … $595.7 M (gross)
2. Edge of Darkness – $17.2 M … $17.2 M
3. When in Rome – $12.3 M … $12.3 M
4. The Tooth Fairy – $10 M … $26.1 M
5. The Book of Eli – $8.9 M … $74.5 M
6. Legion – $7.2 M … $29 M
7. The Lovely Bones – $4.7 M … $38 M
8. Sherlock Holmes – $4.5 M … $197.6 M
9. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel – $4 M … $209.3M
10. It’s Complicated – $3.8 M … $104.1 M

The Tooth Fairy had an uncalled for second week, dropping to just $10 million, only falling about 28 percent and passing The Book of Eli which rounded off the Top 5.

Plummeting out of the Top 10 and signifying a horrific start for CBS Films, Extraordinary Measures might just find itself on DVD for Valentine’s Day at this rate. $2.6 M in week No. 2. Yikes. Right behind it is Lionsgate’s kiddie failure, The Spy Next Door, which has made just $21 M in three weeks and is already at No. 15.

Other notables include the vehicle for Golden Globe and SAG award winner Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart, which more than doubled its theater count, sneaking up to No. 14 in only 239 theaters, meaning Fox Searchlight could be poised to have another surprise success on its hands. Should it somehow secure a nomination for Best Picture tomorrow, look for it to do very well.