‘Avatar’ Grabs Four #1 Weekends In Row; Now 2009′s Highest-Grossing Domestic Pic; Worldwide $1.335 Billion – And Climbing

COMMENTS (129)

• Wow, Princess and the Frog’s performance is so bad that people on this site don’t even comment on it anymore.

  Seriously, what the hell is wrong with Disney Animation? Even with “golden boy” Lasseter in charge for Bolt and Princess and the Frog, they still can’t come close to matching DreamWorks Animation, Fox or even Sony animated films.

  Comment by Timmy — Saturday January 9, 2010 @ 11:50pm PST  Reply to this post

  • Ummm… Up?

    Comment by Kevin — Sunday January 10, 2010 @ 2:48am PST  Reply to this post

    • UP is Pixar, not Disney animation.

      Comment by ccc — Sunday January 10, 2010 @ 3:57am PST  Reply to this post

• Lol! When will the haters crawl back into their little hole with their chipmunk pals? They must love eating all the crow pies and just want more? What’s next after Avatar beats TDK for #2 all time domestic? They’ll be crying more foul and how the books must be cooked or how this film will never beat Gone with the Wind after adjusting for inflation. The bottom line is that this is a film that flat out entertained and made a boat load of money along the way. Seriously, if a master chef created one of the best damn apple pies to be ever created and it sold like hot cake would you dissect the living hell out of it and say, this particular ingredient sucks or tastes like shit or would you eat the pie and make your judgement based on the taste as a whole? A movie is a sum of its parts, is it not? I truly feel sori for the minority of movie goers who can’t take a chill pill and just enjoy a great film.

  Comment by Ninefinga — Sunday January 10, 2010 @ 6:23am PST  Reply to this post

  • Agree.. no one could’ve said it better.

    Comment by Tin — Tuesday January 12, 2010 @ 4:18am PST  Reply to this post

• The problem with P&TF is that it isn’t a good movie. They kicked up everyone’s expectations with the whole “return to classic Disney” approach, and when the movie turned out to be really bland with dull characters and forgettable music numbers, the bottom fell out. It ain’t The Lion King and nobody was fooled. Everyone forgets that Bolt was actually a really good movie: Very likable characters, sharp humor and a very, very adorable story with a few legitmately heart-tugging moments. It wasn’t a blockbuster, but it held up pretty well because Disney didn’t advertise it as the second coming and no one was disappointed.

  Rapunzel will apparently be CGI-animated, and it will probably suck, but I have a feeling it will do better than Frog because no one will be expecting brilliance out of it.

  Comment by DK — Sunday January 10, 2010 @ 7:03am PST  Reply to this post

  • The above is just about the single best post I have read online in a long time. Absolutely got everything right. The simple reason Princess and the Frog failed has nothing to do with this ill conceived idea that interest is waining in traditional animation or that boys won’t go see a princess movie. Stop making excuses for the filmmakers. The simple reason this movie failed: It was no good. Period. And Bolt will hold up because it made the audience feel something. It pulled at their heart strings and in return people became emotionally invested in it.

    Comment by PhilipLA — Sunday January 10, 2010 @ 9:08am PST  Reply to this post

  • While it certainly is no hit, “The Princess and the Frog” isn’t exactly a huge flop either. It has made $92 million against a production budget of $105 million. Figure in DVD sales and Disney might make a small profit on this one. Again, not a success by any means, but it certainly isn’t a “Nine” eithe.

    Comment by billybob — Sunday January 10, 2010 @ 9:57am PST  Reply to this post

  • Right, but my points were:

    1) If Bolt was a decent movie (I personally thought it was stronger than most Pixar films), then why did it only do $114? I think it’s because they make Disney animated character look so kiddie. Why with Lasseter in charge does Disney still do that? It has been their m.o. and marketing downfall for Chicken Little and Meet the Robinsons … why continue that? Lasseter revamped the entire film (outside of the basic concept of a tv star dog getting lost), why stick with Disney’s kiddie characters when the opposite has been successful for Pixar (and DreamWorks for that matter)?

    2) How did Princess and the Frog end up a bad movie if Lasseter was in charge? He can manage greatness at Pixar but not at Disney? There were very basic story and character flaws … how did Lasseter not improve them so it was a strong film? Was he afraid to step on the Disney legacy directors’ toes?

    I think Disney animation paints themselves into a corner thinking that 1) they must maintain some element of their legacy (as narrowly defined by themselves and pop culture) and 2) they can’t copy what others are doing to be successful – they have to find some unique route because they’re Disney and are supposed to be the leaders of this genre. I just don’t understand why Lasseter continues this thinking. I guess he is swayed by his own childhood memories and the Disney legacy as well.

    Comment by Timmy — Sunday January 10, 2010 @ 11:42am PST  Reply to this post

• Avatar sees box office high amid cold
  By Liu Wei (China Daily)
  Updated: 2010-01-09 08:33

  Science fiction movie Avatar set China’s box office on fire and sparked heated debate among local filmmakers and critics, as it premiered amid the heaviest snowfall in half a century in various parts of the country.

  The 3-D movie, directed by James Cameron, the man behind top-grossing film Titanic, raked in about 35 million yuan ($5 million) on its Monday debut to set a record for a weekday opening in China, Twentieth Century Fox said. Insiders said its box office revenue was more than 100 million yuan by Thursday.

  On Wednesday morning, audiences braved the coldest winter in 59 years to form lines an hour before the China National Film Museum, one of three Beijing theaters offering IMAX 3-D technology films, made the screening.
  A number of netizens even compared the ordeal of buying a ticket for Avatar to getting hold of a train ticket during Spring Festival, the holiday season when migrant workers flood home for reunions.

  For Chinese director Lu Chuan, Avatar also meant “a complete defeat” for all Chinese filmmakers.

  Lu wrote on his blog of the spiritual splendor of the film’s storyline, beyond its visual spectacle. “Avatar made me realize that what we lack is not technology – we can learn technology,” he wrote.

  “I suddenly realized how far away our films are from simple beauty, crystal-clear purity and passionate dreams. We Chinese filmmakers should be ashamed of being far from sincerity and being embroiled in a carnival of twisted, dim and absurd vulgarity.”

  Similarly, the film reminded popular Chinese writer Han Han of the social issue of violent eviction in China.

  His satirical blog compared the aliens’ fate in the film with the suffering of Chinese people when unscrupulous real estate developers demolish their houses in the drive for profit.

  “Some local film critics think the film has a corny storyline that’s because forceful eviction is unimaginable for audiences in other countries as they think that it can only happen on alien planets or China,” Han wrote, giving the “great film” a full score of 10 if seen in IMAX 3-D.

  As the first foreign film screened in China in 2010, Avatar is poised to create a new box office record soon.

  http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-01/09/content_9292061.htm

  Comment by tony — Sunday January 10, 2010 @ 8:30am PST  Reply to this post

• I JUST WANT TO SAY THAT SOMEONE CLAIMED THAT TITANIC WAS NOT PROFITABLE, WHOEVER SAID THAT DOES NOT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT, TITANIC MADE $1.8 BILLION, SO EVEN AFTER YOU SUBTRACT THE 50 PERCENT THAT THE THEATERS KEPT, IT STILL MADE $900 MILLION, NOW SUBTRACT THE SUPPOSED $200 MILLION COST OF THE FILM, I AM NOT SURE IF THAT NUMBER WAS EVER CONFIRMED, IT COULD HAVE ACTUALLY BEEN LESS, BUT LETS GO WITH THAT NUMBER, SO AFTER YOU SUBTRACT $200 MILLION YOU HAVE $700 MILLION IN PROFIT, EVEN IF YOU SUBTRACT ANOTHER $50 MILLION FOR ADVERTISING COSTS OR WHATEVER, YOU STILL HAVE $650 MILLION IN PROFIT, THAT’S BEFORE YOU ADD IN THE PROFITS FROM THE SOUNDTRACK, ONE OF THE HIGHEST SELLING SOUNDTRACKS OF ALL TIME, AND BEFORE YOU ADD IN THE CABLE AND TV RIGHTS WHICH HAD TO BE THE BIGGEST OF ALL TIME CAUSE IT WAS THE BIGGEST MOVIE OF ALL TIME AND THIS IS BEFORE ADDING IN RENTALS AND VHS AND DVD SALES AND MERCHANDISING AND TITANIC HAD MERCHANDISE, I DON’T THINK THEY HAD ACTION FIGURES OR ANYTHING BUT I AM SURE T-SHIRTS AND MUGS AND ETC. MADE BIG MONEY SINCE PEOPLE LIKED THE MOVIE SO MUCH, ONCE YOU ADD IT ALL UP I AM SURE TITANIC MADE AROUND A BILLION IN PROFIT, ALSO YOU HAVE TO CONSIDER IT WAS BIG OVERSEAS SO MERCHANDISE AND DVD’S ETC. SOLD WELL OVERSEAS TOO, ALSO BEFORE TITANIC EVEN LEFT THE THEATERS I BELIEVE CAMERON WAS PAID $100 MILLION, I BELIEVE THAT WAS A BONUS ON TOP OF HIS NORMAL FEE BECAUSE OF THE FILM’S SUCCESS, EITHER THAT OR HE WAS ENTITLED TO THAT AMOUNT BASED ON GROSS PARTICIPATION, BUT IT WAS WIDELY REPORTED THAT HE RECIEVED $100 MILLION AND I BELIEVED HE RECEIVED MORE FROM DVD SALES ETC. DOWN THE LINE, ALSO THEY PAID LEONARDO DICAPRIO A $37 MILLION BONUS AND PAID CELINE DION A $37 MILLION BONUS FOR MAKING THE SOUNDTRACK AND I BELIEVE KATE WINSLET RECIEVED A $5 MILLION BONUS, WHY WOULD THEY GIVE OUT BONUSES LIKE THESE IF THE FILM FLOPPED, ALSO YOU CAN GOOGLE THOSE NUMBERS, I BELIEVE IT WAS REPORTED BY FORBES, BUT YOU CAN GOOGLE IT, ALSO ABOUT AVATAR, AVATAR HAS MADE CLOSE TO $1.2 BILLION WORLDWIDE ALREADY, SO AFTER YOU SUBTRACT HALF FOR THEATER OWNERS YOU ARE LEFT WITH ABOUT $600 MILLION, EVEN IF THE FILM REALLY COST $500 MILLION TO MAKE WHICH MAY BE AN EXAGGERATION, THERE IS STILL A $100 MILLION PROFIT ALREADY BEFORE TV AND CABLE RIGHTS AND DVD SALES AND MERCHANDISING, MERCHANDISING AND DVD’S ETC. FROM WORLDWIDE SALES COULD ADD UP TO ANOTHER $300 MILLION, MAYBE MORE, SO THIS MOVIE IS ALREADY PROFITABLE AND WILL BE VERY PROFITABLE IN THE END, ALSO PEOPLE NEED TO STOP GETTING PISSED EVERYTIME SOMEONE TELLS THE TRUTH ABOUT THESE MOVIES, SOME PEOPLE ARE HATING BUT SOME PEOPLE ARE JUST GIVING HONEST OPINIONS, I LIKE BOTH MOVIES BUT I DONT THINK THEY ARE PERFECT MOVIES, BOTH HAVE THEIR ISSUES, WHEN TITANIC FIRST CAME OUT I THOUGHT IT WAS THE BEST MOVIE EVER, WHEN I GOT UP FROM THE THEATER AT THE END I HAD FELT THAT I HAD SEEN THE GREATEST MOVIE OF ALL TIME AND THAT FEELING REMAINED THE SAME FOR A GOOD TEN YEARS MAYBE, BUT I SAW TITANIC RECENTLY AND DIDN’T THINK IT WAS AS GOOD AS I REMEMBERED AND FOUND THE STORY TO BE REALLY SIMPLE, WITH AVATAR I DIDN’T GET UP FROM THE THEATER WITH THE FEELING I HAD SEEN THE BEST MOVIE OF ALL TIME, I FELT IT WAS GOOD BUT NOT THE BEST, I SAW AVATAR A SECOND TIME AND THE SECOND TIME IT DIDN’T FEEL AS GOOD AS THE FIRST, IT WAS STILL GOOD BUT IT FELT LIKE THE STORY WAS KINDA SIMPLE AND LIKE IT WAS A REWORKING OF OTHER STORIES ALREADY DONE BEFORE, IT HAD SOME ORIGINAL THINGS ABOUT IT AND THE SPECIAL EFFECTS WERE GOOD AND ORIGINAL AND IT HAD A REALLY GOOD MESSAGE WHETHER OR NOT SOME PEOPLE FEEL IT WAS A SAPPY MESSAGE OR THAT THE MESSAGE HAD BEEN DONE BEFORE I STILL THINK IT HAD A GOOD MESSAGE AND WAS GOOD OVER ALL BUT SOME THINGS COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER AS FAR AS THE PLOT AND DIALOGUE, JUST GIVING MY HONEST OPINION, I LIKED BOTH MOVIES, NOW AS FAR AS DARK KNIGHT IS CONCERNED, I LIKED IT WHEN I FIRST SAW DARK KNIGHT BUT FELT IT WAS ONLY A HUGE HIT BECAUSE OF HEATH LEDGER’S PERFORMANCE AND THE MEDIA ATTENTION TO HIS DEATH, I FELT IT WAS GOOD BUT NOT TITANIC GOOD OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT, BUT I WATCHED DARK KNIGHT AGAIN RECENTLY ON DVD AND FOUND IT SO BORING I COULD BARELY SIT THROUGH IT AND I CAN’T STAND CHRISTIAN BALE’S ACTING OR HIS PERSONALITY, HE’S HARD TO WATCH, THE ONLY THING GOOD ABOUT DARK KNIGHT WAS HEATH LEDGER BUT IT WAS NOT A GOOD MOVIE, I THINK THAT DARK KNIGHT SHOULDN’T BE SPOKEN IN THE SAME BREATH AS TITANIC AND IS NOT AS GOOD AS AVATAR, I KNOW SOME WILL SAY I’M HATING ON DARK KNIGHT BUT THAT’S MY HONEST OPINION, I ACTUALLY LIKE COMIC BOOK FILMS, I LIKE THE BATMAN FRANCHISE, I HAVE SEEN ALL THE BATMAN MOVIES, INCLUDING THE 80′S AND 90′S ONES, I REALLY WANTED TO LIKE THIS BATMAN MOVIE, AND I LIKED IT WHEN I SAW IT IN THE THEATER, BUT WHEN I WATCHED IT AGAIN AT HOME I WAS BORED TO DEATH AND COULD BARELY WATCH IT, THE BEST PART OF THE MOVIE AND THE ONLY THING THAT MADE IT A HUGE HIT WAS HEATH LEDGER, YOU ASK ANYONE AND THEY WILL TELL YOU THEY WATCHED THE MOVIE BECAUSE OF HEATH OR THAT THE REASON IT WAS GOOD WAS BECAUSE OF HIM, WELL THAT’S MY TWO CENTS

  Comment by TOM — Sunday January 10, 2010 @ 9:43am PST  Reply to this post

• 1.335 Billion!

  Titanic is going down

  Comment by ccc — Sunday January 10, 2010 @ 9:44am PST  Reply to this post

• I saw Avatar last night. I’m a 62 year old guy who probably only goes to the movies a dozen times a year. Took my wife, my stepdaughter and a friend. Dont see many SF/adventure movies but saw this because of the hype. Had a great time. Plot was a bit trite but the special effects and the spectacle made up for that. I saw it an Imax at my local multiplex and it was sold out for the 7 pm showing. Applause at the end and many people talking about seeing it again. My stepdaughter and our friend are going to tell their friends to not miss it and its going to continue to do well for many more weeks and months. If anybody wants to bet that it doesn’t beat the domestic gross of The Dark Knight, I’ll take that bet and give three to one odds. Any takers?

  Comment by richard — Sunday January 10, 2010 @ 10:10am PST  Reply to this post

• I agree with what William Hurt said when there was hysteria over spoilers leaking on The Village. Something to the effect of, “The best stories have already been told. It’s all in how you tell them.” The beauty of Avatar is all in how the story was told. The devil is in the details.

  Comment by Robert — Sunday January 10, 2010 @ 12:00pm PST  Reply to this post

• I really, really need someone to tell me what the hell is happening with LOVELY BONES numbers. Is this even accurate?

  It can’t possibly be in just 5 theatres?!?!?
  And it can’t possibly have made only 444K domestically and $3M abroad?
  That was a $80M package that everybody was bidding on and that DREAMWORKS/PARAMOUNT bought if I remember correctly.

  How has Nikki not dumped on Paramount for this yet?

  Comment by Sid — Sunday January 10, 2010 @ 4:34pm PST  Reply to this post

• I still wonder… why it’s not possible to like BOTH The Dark Knight and Avatar?

  Comment by Karel — Sunday January 10, 2010 @ 5:45pm PST  Reply to this post

  • You can like both and I do but you inevitably ask yourself, which one was better? Perhaps in some people’s minds they are equal but most people have a top 10 list. So which will it be? Tough choice but I say Avatar based on financial performance and popularity. I’m not hating on TDK just being straightforward here. All masterpieces fade with repeated viewing but you never forget that first viewing and realize its historic importance in the world of cinema and future home entertainment implications. Avatar in my opinion is a masterpiece by multiple standards. If you were an exhibitor and had a choice of Avatar IMAX 3D vs TDK IMAX, which title would you choose to run for 6 months? The better film would you not?

    Comment by Ninefinga — Friday January 15, 2010 @ 11:03am PST  Reply to this post

• What do you mean Cameron couldn’t get work between Titanic and Avatar? He made Aquaman with that nice Vincent Chase.

  Comment by DG — Sunday January 10, 2010 @ 5:53pm PST  Reply to this post

• Um, so let’s just put the whole “adjusted for inflation” thing to rest.

  It doesn’t matter.

  Why? Well let’s just use some common sense. Absolutely, positively, EVERYTHING has gone up in price from 1939. And the amount of tickets sold, AGAIN, has absolutely nothing to do with the bottom line. Cost is cost and profit is profit. I’d rather sell one apple for $30 than twenty apples for $10.

  Enough guys.

  Comment by Chris — Sunday January 10, 2010 @ 5:56pm PST  Reply to this post

• avatar sucked! the graphics were terrible! i mean did they spend 20 dollars on the graphics? and they gave you like 10 MIN to get to know the characters! this is the whole movie. get some unobtanium i need the money for myself. oh noes! ive forgot the team im playing for. HUGE BOREING BATTLE. we won! will i get to keep my avatar body?…. YES! the end. a complete waste of my money. joke lol.

  Comment by avatarfan99 — Monday January 11, 2010 @ 6:59am PST  Reply to this post

• “Let’s say you have been laid off yourself, or you know somebody in your family who has been, the last thing you want to do is watch your own pain once more on the big screen… and PAY FOR IT.”

  And you sure as hell don’t want to watch a character like the person who wrecked your life or that of someone you know “coming out on top,” as it were. The reason some of the less-smart critics/media are hyping this is because (as usual) they sympathize with the people who exploit the rest of us–call it the “Beltway/Versailles” syndrome. Or economic tone-deafness. I’m really surprised Clooney didn’t see how badly this kind of character would play now–he’s normally a lot smarter than that in picking project.

  Comment by deering — Monday January 11, 2010 @ 7:37am PST  Reply to this post

• The problem with adjusting for inflation is that before home video existed movies were released every few year because that was the only way to see them.
  Gone With the Wind was realeased in 1939 and released in:
  1942
  1947
  1954
  1967
  1974
  1989
  1998
  All of those releases are included in the total gross of the movie.

  Comment by Jolon — Monday January 11, 2010 @ 11:11am PST  Reply to this post

• Mark, you hit it out of the park, man! I’ve been trying to let these ‘Gone With The Wind’, inflation adjusted, idiots see those same points you made since ‘Titanic’ was out.
  1939 attendance will never be matched cause they didn’t have 3 HDTVs with TIVOs and Blu-Rays or DVDs or HBO or Starz or malls for that matter! In 1939, they MIGHT have had a few radios and a black & white TV with 3 channels…maybe. In short, you HAD to go to the movies to see a movie. Not only was there no home video market…there was barely a TV market.
  In our media filled, handheld device, internet downloadable world, Titanic and Avatar are amazing achievments in box-office gross and attendance.

  Comment by Rodney — Tuesday January 12, 2010 @ 10:12pm PST  Reply to this post

• CAMERON! THE GUY KNOWS WHAT PEOPLE WANT. HE HIT THE HEAD OF THE NAIL WITH AVATAR. BEAUTIFUL SCENES A GUSHER OF A SCRIPT TRANSLATES TO GAZILLIONS OF MONEY THRU ALL AGE GROUPS. HOLLYWOOD MASTER? YOU BET!! SEEN IT 3 TIMES IN ALL ANGLES IMAX, 3D AND 2D. I MAX THE BEST! HATED THE GLASSES THOUGH.

  Comment by CARLB — Thursday January 14, 2010 @ 9:57am PST  Reply to this post

• Some believe Book Of Eli will be the one to finally take the #1 spot away from Avatar…Uh, no, not gonna happen.

  Avatar dropped only 26.6% last weekend. It was supposed to drop a significantly higher percentage since it was the first weekend after the holidays. Return Of The King and Two Towers had 49% and 41% drops respectively in their 4th weekends (also the first weekend for them after the holidays the years that they came out).

  Now, with the 5th weekend falling on a holiday weekend, Avatar will drop even less than it did last weekend. Sunday will be like another Saturday gross since most people have Monday off. Both Return Of The King and Two Towers dropped less in their 5th weekends than they did in their 4th weekends (King 28% and Towers 30%).

  My guess is that Avatar will drop less than 20% this weekend. I predict it will drop about 15% over the 3 day weekend. Friday to Sunday will gross around $42.5 million. Add another $8 or $9 million on Monday, and it’s total for the four day weekend will be over $50 million. Which means Avatar will reach the $500 million mark in its 32nd day in theaters. It took The Dark Knight 45 days to reach $500 million.

  Although I think Denzel Washington is one of the best actors today, his movies almost never open with dazzling weekends. Usually his movies open in the mid to high 20′s range. His highest opening weekend was for American Gangster at $43 million. That movie had bigger star power (including Russell Crowe) and a big name director (Ridley Scott). It also came out as an “Oscar Contender” (although that never panned out) and had a 79% “Fresh Rating” on Rottentomatoes.com.

  Eli is not an Oscar contender and its current rating on Rottentomatoes.com is 41% (as of 01/14).

  The R-Rating for Eli matters little to Denzel’s fans. The movie will open well for the 3 day frame, especially with Sunday’s drop being less than usual for a movie’s opening weekend due to Monday being a holiday. I predict that Eli will gross around $32 million for the Friday to Sunday frame and about $39 million for the four day weekend.

  So, Avatar will still be #1. By the end of Monday, Avatar will have a domestic total of around $500 million and a worldwide total of over $1.5 billion!

  So, when will Avatar drop from first place? The most likely movie to knock it out of 1st place is a movie that looks really, really bad! That movie is “The Tooth Fairy”. If Avatar drops around 33% in its 6th weekend, there is a good chance that “The Tooth Fairy” will gross more than Avatar. What a shame that would be! Hopefully it doesn’t happen. I guess that would finally give the Avatar “nay-sayers” a chance to cheer. I can just see it now: “How can Avatar lose out to a fairy?” LOL

  Comment by Charl — Thursday January 14, 2010 @ 12:10pm PST  Reply to this post

• OMG. I love watching all you boys comparing the size of your dicks.
  Hilarious.

  Comment by Adela Rogers — Friday January 15, 2010 @ 8:38pm PST  Reply to this post

  • Well, I’d say comparing maturity level, you’re dead last!

    Comment by Charl — Saturday January 16, 2010 @ 9:36pm PST  Reply to this post

• Check out the following box office chart of the top 3 worldwide all time money-makers and you’ll see why I find this utterly prophetic, ironious and quite a poetic statement…as someone once said, “the writing’s on the wall” and in this case, it truly is. I bet I’m the first to post this and I hope Nikke takes notice:

  (Courtesy of Box Office Mojo)

  All TIME WORLD WIDE

  1. Titanic
  2. Avatar
  3. Return of the King

  No words need to be said. Someone should headline this *HINT HINT*

  Comment by Ninefinga — Saturday January 16, 2010 @ 8:13am PST  Reply to this post