Avatar Tops World Box-office

DEC 21, 2009 - Avatar recorded the sixth highest day-and-date launch in history as Fox International’s epic adventure grossed an estimated US$159.2m from 106 markets.

Combined with the US$73m North American debut, James Cameron’s film has amassed $232.2m worldwide in its first weekend and should see Fox International past the $2bn mark soon. Fox International will become the second company this year after Sony Pictures Releasing International to achieve the feat and only the sixth in history to do so.

Fox sources said based on early market-by-market analysis this was the highest non-franchise, non-sequel launch ever recorded. In the company’s widest launch to date Avatar played on 14,461 screens, of which an industry record 3,671 showed the film in 3D. Avatar’s launch had long been regarded as a litmus test for the format and results were encouraging as 3D accounted for roughly 25% of the total screen count and brought in 56% of the gross. Theatre owners charge a premium on 3D tickets.

Here is the rest of the Top 5 US B-O estimate grosses for Dec 18-20, 2009 weekend, in terms of rank, Movie name (studio), Weekend takings in USD, (Cumulative gross, USD) and week on chart, courtesy of Boxofficemojo.

1. Avatar (Fox) $73.0 million ($73.0 mil) 1

2. The Princess and the Frog (Buena Vista) $12.2 million ($44.8 mil) 4

3. The Blind Side (Warner Bros) $10.0 million ($164.7 mil) 5

4. Did You Hear About the Morgans? (Sony) $7 million ($7 mil) 1

5. Twilight Saga: New Moon (Summit) $4.4 million ($274.6 mil) 5