Shailene Woodley’s Mary Jane Role Cut From ‘The … 
‘Star Wars’ Cast Breakdown Unveiled 
CAA Signs Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck, Oscar-Winning … 
UPDATE: Dan Abrams Named New ‘Nightline’ Anchor … 
RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘The Voice’ Finale On Par … 
Joy Bryant Returns To Longtime Agent Steve Alexander At … 
ITV Pays $30M For Controlling Stake In ‘Hatfields … 
Hot Trailer: ‘Anchorman 2′ 
2ND UPDATE: Charlie Sheen Fired Selma Blair From … 
Time Warner Cable Sued For Passing Lakers-Dodgers Costs On … 
Jonah Hill Signs For Management With LBI 
TOLDJA! ‘Dumb And Dumber To’ Proves No-Brainer … 
Salma Hayek’s Animated Passion Project ‘The … 
Relativity Moves Scott Cooper’s ‘Out Of The … 
Hot Trailer: ‘The Lego Movie’ 
Comedy ‘I Didn’t Do It’ Gets Series Order … 
Liv Tyler To Co-Star In Damon Lindelof’s HBO Pilot … 
DreamWorks Animation Launches Effort To Re-Position Itself … 
‘Pacific Rim’ Sequel In Planning Stages, … 
Legendary “Down To Handful” Of Studio Suitors: … 
UPDATE: Dan Harmon Apologizes For Comments Slamming … 
FRIDAY AM UPDATE: Here’s the new Top 10 including the New Year’s Eve take. Overall box office Thursday was an estimated $52.1M:
1. AVATAR (Fox) [3,456 runs] Week 2
Wed $18.5M (+1), Thurs $14.9M (-19%), Cume $283.8
2. ALVIN SQUEAKQUEL (Fox) [3,700] Week 2
Wed $11.8M (-6%), Thurs $8.7M (-26%), Cume $120.7M
3. SHERLOCK HOLMES (Warner Bros) [3,626] Week 1
Wed $9.7M (-5%), Thurs $8.7M (-10%), Cume $102.3M
4. IT’S COMPLICATED (Warner Bros) [2,887] Week 1
Wed $4.4M (+3%), Thurs $5.3M (+22%), Cume $40.3M
5. THE BLIND SIDE (Warner Bros) [2,766] Week 7
Wed $3M (+2%), Thurs $3.4M (+13%), Cume $196.4M
6. UP IN THE AIR (Paramount) [1,895] Week 5
Wed $2.3M (+3%), Thurs $2.8M (+23%), Cume $33.6M
7. PRINCESS & THE FROG (Disney) [3,475] Week 6
Wed $3.3M (-1%), Thurs $2.6M (-21%), Cume $76M
8. MORGANS? (Sony) [2,718] Week 3
Wed $1.2M (-1%), Thurs $1.3M (+8%), Cume $20.4M
9. INVICTUS (Warner Bros) [2,160] Week 3
Wed $895K (+3%), Thurs $988K (+10%), Cume $26.6M
10. NINE (The Weinstein Co) [1,412] Week 3
Wed $1M (-1%), Thurs $864K (-15%), Cume $9.8M
THURSDAY PM UPDATE: Who woulda thunk it? (End of sarcasm…) Adding Wednesday’s estimated North American gross of $18.4M, Avatar‘s new domestic cume is now a staggering $268.8M after only 13 days in release. It’s been averaging $18M a day. Avatar‘s international for Wednesday was $36.9M, down only 6% from Tuesday, making the foreign cume now $525.3M. So the worldwide total ending Wednesday was $794.1M. It has now crossed $800M today. Yowza!
Overall, today’s box office should be very good and tomorrow should be huge. In fact, Friday should be about the same as last week’s Christmas Day. That’s according to my box office gurus who once again I need to thank for another year of accurate film forecasts (except for those sleepers that shocked the hell out of all of Hollywood). Saturday and Sunday will then look normal. Saturday could be down 30% from last week and Sunday down 45% from last week. So overall this weekend could be down about 25% from Christmas weekend. The exception will probably be Warner Bros’ Sherlock Holmes which fell alot from Friday to Saturday last week and will be fighting Fox’s Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel for 2nd place in the $40M range.
Rival studios think Avatar could do $55M-$60M and maybe even $65M this weekend. But 20th Century Fox conservatively anticipates the number in the $50M neighborhood. Nevertheless, the studio boasts that James Cameron’s big budget technopic will end 2009 as the #2 grossing domestic film. “And there’s a whole lot of gross still to come in 2010. This rocket ship still has loads of fuel in its tanks!” a Fox exec reminds me. Even rival studios tell me they expect Avatar cume to hit $335M domestic by end of Sunday. “Cameron looks like he’ll rank #1-#2 with Titanic,” a Fox competitor emailed.
So it’s no wonder that, with today being the last box office opportunity of 2009, this final week will post record numbers with nearly $500 million in revenue generated from December 25 through December 31. Overall, 2009 is looking at $10.6 billion box office, up 10.07% from 2008. Hollywood numbers guru Paul Dergarabedian is also reporting that attendance figures are the highest in the past 5 years at 1.42 billion tickets sold at an average price of $7.46.
Hollywood.com box:
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
Loading ...
I never doubted Cameron for a second, but this is staggering!
Say what you what you want about him but he knows exactly what he’s doing.
Amazing…
You’re being sarcastic… right?
This calls for a round of layoffs!
Always trust Cameron. He’s the only guy out there who knows how to make a movie that audiences actually want to see and exceed their expectations at the same time. Take a bow, James.
Yep! Him and Michael Bay!!
Maybe he will direct a FILM next time instead a videogame intro.
Good luck, James!
really? you dont’ think this is a film? why, because it doesn’t have the independent vibe of ‘juno’,
or the stellar edge of ‘inglorious basterds’? films come in many forms, i for one can appreciate all of those that are made well, and cameron’s ‘avatar’ is miraculous in many ways. this may be a big hollywood film, but that’s what cameron does, and he just proved again that few do it better. ‘avatar’ is such a huge and well executed undertaking, that it deserves best picture for that alone….
grow up.
Maybe you will make an actual comment instead of a ridiculous one.
Good luck, leffe!
Flop, huh?
This will cause quite a bit of cognitive dissonance among Drudge denialists.
Well done, Jim. I hope he cut and pasted the vitriolic predictions of failure and catastrophe that were littered in the comment section of every Avatar article on this site leading up to its release. Might be good for a laugh to sift through the portending of doom and gloom since he’s badly put his doubters in their place yet again. The last refuge for his haters will be to complain that the film is overrated and wholly unworthy of its runaway success, sentiments that will fall on deaf ears as it continues to shatter box office precedent after box office precedent. In a weak Oscar year where no frontrunner has emerged, don’t discount its chances of taking home the top prize there, either. It’s blossoming into just as big a cultural event as Titanic.
James Cameron truly lived up to his reputation as a hard-working perfectionist and a genius behind a movie camera. Very interesting to see since this is the first movie where he truly had complete control over what he wanted to do, with no timing, technological, studio or budget issues holding him back. I hope people who liked Avatar will go back and check out his most overlooked film, The Abyss. It arguably is his most personal and original movie, has better suspense, action and acting than Avatar and still holds up nearly perfectly visually despite being from 1989. The overall plot may not be as smooth and satisfying as in Avatar but because it’s so unique it’s always interesting and engaging. And it has what some have called the single most dramatic, suspenseful and intense scenes in movie history. Please check out this film, Avatar fans, you won’t regret it!
just because it makes a lot of money, doesn’t mean it’s a good film. See Transformers 2, Pirates 3, Spidey 3.
So yay, money?
Those were all 1-weekend movies though. Avatar keeps building and building. I realize the film isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but clearly the word on the street is positive.
“Those were all 1-weekend movies though. Avatar keeps building and building.”
Um, Udo? Ever heard of something called the “Christmas holidays”? Everyone’s off school/work. Next week will be another story.
Not even holiday films perform like this. The last one to do it? Titanic. Research and understand first before you write baseless comments. Moron.
Did you see the movie?
Speaking as someone who rarely goes to the theater to watch new movies, I can say that what James Cameron offers is a true experience. He creates experiences that are unlike anything seen before. Plus, he’s actually a good storyteller.
Some people may just go to the movies every week and pick a movie to watch. For those of us that don’t, we wait to experience something great.
Actually, Cameron doesn’t know what he’s doing. The numbers are driven by the 3-D IMAX theaters. In my area, 3-D adult tickets are significantly more expensive ($15) than normal viewing ($11). That’s a 36% increase over regular ticket prices (no matinees).
Is there technology to make Avatar on home video look as good in 3-D as the IMAX theater? No.
Considering that Avatar has to cover costs of $430 domestic, and by my counting Avatar has pulled in only $391 net to Studio, not counting foreign promotion, dubbing, and other fees that have to be paid out the $476 foreign box office (which the studio would be lucky to keep half).
Studios make most of their money off sales to TV (rights) and home video. How is a 3-D film like Avatar going to make the kind of money in those areas when the whole film looks “flat” and boring in 2-D?
Yeah, brilliant move by Fox/Cameron to make Avatar in 3-D (I’m only halfway sarcastic). It DOES cut down on piracy (how can you pirate a 3-D movie).
BUT … how can you sell it to consumers in 3-D at a 36% premium ?? The Independent states that half the first weekend ticket sales were 3-D. Which makes Avatar likely a home-video and TV rights sales bust.
People ARE going to see Avatar. But not as many as you might think because most of the revenue seems to be coming from 3-D sales (again, half tickets sold the first weekend were 3-D, and they had a 36% premium over 2-D).
Avatar STILL has not covered its domestic production+marketing costs. Given collapse of theatrical exhibition in China, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and South Korea due to piracy, to the point where Nikki and others have reported financing for indies on foreign pre-sales is non-existent, even with stars like Johnny Depp, I’d be shocked if Avatar got even HALF of foreign box office revenue (considering the expense of setting up 3-D).
If Cameron had brought this in under half the budget, the movie would make a tidy profit. IMHO Cameron was too undisciplined (the film is lazy, bloated, long, predictable, and other than the startling imagery, derivative in a “Dances with Smurfs” way). Its “the Abyss” only in 3-D with cats on stilts.
Unobtainium? Heck the Core used that old tired cliche. Color me skeptical that $15 IMAX 3-D ticket prices will be enough on their own to make this ultra-high cost movie profitable. [You'll notice Fox is very cagey about the numbers they release, including numbers of tickets sold and 2-D/3-D breakouts.]
You are obviously an idiot. I was going to argue your points then I remembered the saying ‘Don’t argue with fools / because from a distance and you can’t tell who is who.’
Do better, hater.
Your arithmetic is silly. At 18 mil per day, the costs will be paid off completely by the weekend. You can see a conventional movie under better conditions at home so 3 D makes a good reason to go out to see this film rather than wait and rent it on Netflix for thirty- five cents. George Lucas has been developing new technology for years with no practical result while he recycled (exploited Star Wars endlessly. The autograph thing was a setup. Film is supposed to be a unifying experience and this is the first film in decades that is doing this. It is a watershed picture like THE JAZZ SINGER, GODFATHER, STAR WARS, and Cameron should be recognized as a visionary.
Oh you had me until you mentioned “The Jazz Singer.” And the more I think about the more I think you should replace each of those films (especially the R rated one) with the “Lord of the Rings” triology and “ET.”
DirecTV will be offering 3D broadcasts in 2010 and 3D televisions are coming in 2010 as well. A perfect time for Avatar to be available on home TVs.
@ DirecTV will be offering 3D broadcasts in 2010 and 3D televisions are coming in 2010 as well. A perfect time for Avatar to be available on home TVs. Comment by EJP — December 31, 2009 @ 8:58 pm
So, I’m supposed to have 1 tv for regular viewing and 1 tv for 3D?
or am I supposed to upgrade from the flat panel I just purchased to the new 3D? will the 3D tv also play blue ray?
In a way, I sincerely hope they pass Cap and Trade so the craziness will stop and tv’s (which have become disposable items it seems – kind of like toothbrushes) will be something that you don’t trade up to every christmas at walmart.
Let people keep their jobs, let entrepreneurs have some business, keep the corn farmers growing and go see 3D at IMAX.
The numbers don’t lie. This is an unassailable hit and you look like a fool for trying to spin it any other way. Pathetic attempt at best whiskey.
“Given collapse of theatrical exhibition in China”.
China’s theatrical exhibition business grew 30~35% in 2009, depending on your sources.
Yeah, brilliant move by Fox/Cameron to make Avatar in 3-D (I’m only halfway sarcastic). It DOES cut down on piracy (how can you pirate a 3-D movie).
Considering that it also played in 2D, it was quite possible to pirate the movie, and in fact, bad telesyncs were out within 24 hours of the movie’s release.
Avatar STILL has not covered its domestic production+marketing costs. Given collapse of theatrical exhibition in China, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and South Korea due to piracy, to the point where Nikki and others have reported financing for indies on foreign pre-sales is non-existent, even with stars like Johnny Depp, I’d be shocked if Avatar got even HALF of foreign box office revenue (considering the expense of setting up 3-D).
Shocked! Shocked, I say, considering that roughly 64 percent of the movie’s gross so far comes from those territories that don’t have the Star-Spangled Banner or the Canadian Maple Leaf. Duh.
Here’s an indicator as to why it is successful. My nephew, who firmly and squarely belongs in the “I don’t like going to the movies” camp went to see the movie on the first weekend with seven of his friends, came home, called me immediately and said, “Uncle, you got to see this in the theatre. Nothing else will do.” And that kid at the age of 17 has seen more bullshit being forced down his throat than I had when I was his age, including all the toy movies, he is incredibly jaded when it comes to the cinema.
And before that, based on the trailers, I was very “meh” on the idea of AVATAR. But if that kid came out of the theatre with such glee, maybe the trailers were wrong. So I went the following day. Was blown away by it. So I called two of my female friends, both also decidely “meh” on the movie based on the trailers, told them they had to go and see it in the theatres, nothing else will do. So they went before Christmas. Were blown away. So they called some of their friends…
… and that is why the movie didn’t open with 154 million, but why it continues to NOT DROP a lot, why it continues to build. People at Fox may pat themselves on the shoulder and say, they did good marketing.
No, they didn’t. The marketing for AVATAR was decidedly awful. The trailers were decidedly awful. It’s people going in, loving it, calling other people and tell them to do the same. And again. And again.
You’ve got it 100% correct. I work in the business and wanted nothing more than this film to succeed – contrary to what some selfish or jealous people say/write – when big movies do well, it encourages the studios to make more, when they tank – everyone stops spending and we all suffer.
The trailers had me very worried as they didn’t capture the excitement or jaw-dropping spectacle that awaited me. I should never had worried – after all – Jim has never let the audience down.
Thank you Jim for once again reinventing the game – setting the stage for a new decade of record setting attendance at the cinemas.
Bravo!!
Just don’t wait another 12 years please…..
Dude …you are a ReTARD! This film is going to smash every little scheme you’re head can think up. 800 mill in less than a month ??!! Give it a rest loser
C’mon, guys, you should know better than to take Whiskey’s posts seriously. He acts like an expert based on six “facts” he overheard. Remember when he was calling New Moon a failure because it didn’t outgross Iron Man? Now Avatar’s on pace to be the second highest grossing film of all time, and he’s still trying to spin it as a loser? He’s an idiot, plain and simple. A right wing bigot who picks on movies that offend his backwards sensibilities, then attempts to spin the numbers in his favor to “prove” that the rest of America agrees with his lunacy. Just ignore him. Or do what I do and laugh. That’s what James Cameron is doing — all the way to the bank.
i’m from eastern europe.
seems you know a lot about the life here, much more than we do. heh.
the tickets are still sold for 2-3 days ahead. it’s the theaters administration, who’s really shocked here. personally i’m going to watch it in 2D theater this (2nd) time.
and it’s not the big names, which might persuade smb to visit the local theater. it’s the movie itself, it has a great word-of-mouth publicity. some people watched it even for 3-4 times already and would like to watch again.
thanks to Jim!
Huh? Where do you come up with these idiotic thoughts? For one they are wrong. It is not even worth discussing. You clearly think into it too much and don’t use simple logic and actual data. Ever hear of the concept of quality over quantity. You wrote alot but most of it is crap and ust wrong
Cameron said he intended to go the Matrix/Pirates route of filming the second and third installments of Avatar back to back and releasing them within the same Calendar year if the first one made enough to warrant it. I suspect Fox is already on the horn with him trying to negotiate a deal for this 1-2 punch sequel package.
Amazing!!
It rocks the whole world!!
Damn you, Alvin, and your chipmunk friends!
AMAZING! You should never doubt the master himself, James Cameron.
Kinda makes all the naysayers from the previous post seem hilarious.
And, I’d just like to say to all the right wing wack jobs that have been yapping about how the “fly-over states” won’t see this liberal crap anymore, etc., etc….
Suck it, baby!
Well,well,well.
Cameron does it again in spite of the naysayers.
The truth of the matter is: Most of the so called industry folk know as much about making a hit film as the CIA(with it’s 50 Ba- Billion dollar a year budget!)knows about preventing a boy with Bomb drawers from getting on a plane.
Have a great,safe New Year everybody. That’s not sarcasm.
I haven’t seen it yet, and he apparently is a douche about autographs, but you gotta give it to Cameron!
Who would have thunk it, Nikki? Really? How about everyone who didn’t rush to judgment on Avatar and actually saw it before blasting it to hell.
I wonder what the odds are of Avatar passing Titanic. I’d say if the Academy really showers it with nominations and it gets the big awards, the chances are pretty good!
Now Mr. C is KING OF THE UNIVERSE!!!!
And hopefully, this BIG BOX OFFICE BOOM will spread throughout 2010 and beyond — and give this industry a good kick in the pants! Movies have always brought joy to depressed times — look at the Depression itself — the motion picture experience will never die…
-
Happy 2010 Hollywood!
this makes entertainment weekly’s shameless and lame attempt to stoke oscar for the box office let down UP IN THE AIR even more pthetic. this will not even be a race. people have already forgotten the box office failure.
Mike
Kind of a stretch to write UITA off as a failure. It had meager production costs and is already well on its way to covering them less than a week after widespread expansion. It’ll end up with close to 100 million when the dust settles.
Arithmetic? The film UP IN THE AIR has to gross eighty to ninety million to break even and that is all it can hope to do. At present it is positioned to gross around forty mil plus a little.
“forty mil plus a little”?
Up In The Air will have that by the end of this weekend! Right now it’s total stands at $37 million after Friday (New Year’s Day). After about another $7 million on Saturday and Sunday combined, it will have close to $44 million.
Even if it drops the usual amount after this weekend, the movie will still make at least $65 million total.
But, remember, this is a frontrunner for best picture, which means it will expand into more theaters, it will benefit from Oscar buzz and word of mouth, and it will make close to $100 million if not more.
And this comes from someone that thinks that George Clooney is one of the most over-rated actors today! He makes one bomb after another. So it’s not like I love this film or anything. In fact, I probably won’t even see the movie in theaters.
True, with it’s $25 million production budget and around $25 million or more marketing, this movie has to make $100 million to break even (the studio gets 50% of the total grosses).
But even you can realize that Up In The Air will make more than “forty mil plus a little”.
Not surprised. Saw the movie for the first time last night in IMAX 3D, and it stands with the Wizard of Oz and 2001 as an epochal film, ushering in a new era. In ten years all tentpole movies will be 3D. Cameron has made history; he may even have saved the movie business. His achievement cannot be understated, especially after the intense mediocrity of this movie decade.
The blue nipples became boring in the first hour. I began to fall asleep on Avatar.
In the second hour, I began to think of a child hood film ( Fern gully comes to mind)
In the final 40 minutes. I kept checking the time through out the movie, well let’s just say it wasn’t Star Wars wookies, or even the Abyss and I think the Alien ships were so much better.
So it can make 1 billion dollars, it still sucked like that guy on TMZ said.
It is good that you have unique taste in film. And believe it or not I am not being sarcastic. But there are others who have seen the film more than once; many others. I am seeing fascinating interpretations about the film that are poignant and legitimate. In other words it has taken on a life beyond Cameron’s initial vision. That, by the way is a quality of good art. Not saying it is but….
And yet, you still paid to see it.
LAMO
No, it was a gift card I wouldn’t pay a $1.00 to see this movie, the people I went with optioned for Sherlock Holmes and the Frog movie.
After wards they told me we knew Cameron’s movie stunk. Now mind you these are teenage girls. Must be that blue nipple thing.
Like Cameron or hate him but he does deliver. Now I know why the studies give him money, because he makes them money. This movie is huge, unstoppable. I’m usually cynical with hyped movies but I liked this movie as well.