Biggest. Movie. Evah.:
1. Avatar: $31.3 million
2. Edge of Darkness: $17.2 million (NEW)
3. When in Rome: $12.4 million (NEW)
4. Tooth Fairy: $9.998 million (2nd week; drops 29%)
5. The Book of Eli: $8.9 million (3rd week; drops 43%)
actual numbers, not estimates
Avatar dropped only 11 percent over its seventh weekend, for another record: the highest-grossing seventh weekend ever… although, as it remains important to continue pointing out, Avatar is not breaking attendance records, just dollar-amount ones.
Just as the new openers didn’t fare so well, Legion took a huge drop of 60 percent in its second week, and Extraordinary Measures dropped 56 percent in its second weekend.
The only movie that could stand up to Avatar in any way, in fact, was the indie comedy Saint John of Las Vegas — starring Steve Buscemi, Sarah Silverman, and Peter Dinklage — which opened on two screens, and earned $10,833 on each of them… slightly more than Avatar’s per-screen of $10,176. Indies Crazy Heart and The Last Station were close behind, at $9,662 on 239 screens and $9,416 on nine screens, respectively. With both of those films now Oscar nominees, those numbers should look even better this coming weekend.
Milestones: It’s Complicated and The Princess and the Frog both passed $100 million. Oh, and Avatar passed $600 million on Tuesday.
[numbers via Box Office Mojo]
