"Avatar" #1 movie in Domestic and Foreign box office

It finally happened, Avatar topped Titanic at the domestic box office on Tuesday 2/2/10.

READ STORY AT http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=2667&p=.htm

Cameron tops Cameron! Avatar Outgrosses Titanic!

Finally, after over a decade of holding the #1 slot atop the worldwide box office, Avatar unseated Titanic as the highest grossing movie in the world before adjusting for inflation. Both films were directed by James Cameron.

In about 7 days or so Avatar will outgross Titanic in the domestic market as well.

-Andres

REUTERS: "Avatar" earns $1.84 billion worldwide

REPORT: "Titanic" just hit an iceberg named "Avatar."

James Cameron's sci-fi spectacular replaced his maritime melodrama as the biggest international release of all time during the weekend and is on the verge of claiming its worldwide crown, which also includes North American receipts, distributor 20th Century Fox said on Sunday.

The News Corp (NWSA.O)-owned studio said "Avatar" has sold $1.841 billion worth of tickets worldwide during its unbroken six-week reign, and was a day or so away from surpassing the seemingly insurmountable $1.843 billion racked up by "Titanic" in 1997-1998.

The international portion stands at $1.288 billion, eclipsing the $1.242 billion haul of "Titanic.

READ THE REST OF THE STORY HERE

Avatar poised to pass The Dark Knight year-to-date gross this weekend!

I'm not excited or holding my breathe but news is news. As of Thursday, Avatar is at $450m. It needs to score at least $22m this weekend to outgross The Dark Knight at the same point year-to-date (5th weekend in release). Avatar should have no trouble doing unless The Book of Eli and other movies draw audiences away.

As of last weekend, Avatar's total gross was around 78% 3D and IMAX sells which means the ticket prices are indeed much higher than regular screen ticket prices. So far, more people in the American box office has seen The Dark Knight vs Avatar.

COMPARISON STORY TO FOLLOW
-Andres

AVATAR CROSSING $1B WORLDWIDE!!

Deadline Hollywood Daily is reporting that James Cameron's 3D epic just crossed the $1b mark this weekend worldwide making it the 5th movie to do so ever!

The tally so far beats The Dark Knight, the last film to cross the billion dollar mark.

If this weekend's estimate's hold, Avatar would be at an estimated $350m. If momentum holds this film could very well be on its way to $500m! It will shortly become the highest grossing film of 2009 beating the Transformers sequel!

-Andres

PODCAST: The Summer Box Office Wrap Up!

Finally! Another podcast! Its not the best but its informative anyway. How boring, huh?

Well, here's my podcast to wrap up a lackluster summer box office!

Slow season . . .

The numbers show it. The box office has been declining for at least 3 weeks now. Harry Potter is crashing back to earth and fast. Transformers is all but forgotten. The excellent grade films are showing in a hand-full of screens. A lot is riding on G.I. JOE but its tracking to be a terrible film too.

So there's been nothing major for me to report so I've taken time to go back and revist the world of The Watchmen. The Director's Cut presents a more solid viewing experience and announcing the Ultimate Edition for the Christmas season. The Director's Cut is at least 24 minutes longer than the theatrical version. The Ultimate Edition might make the film a near 4-hour experience.

Expect a few more articles about the Watchmen in the coming days. Like I said in my podcast, I won't let this movie be forgotten because of a lost opportunity! There is hope for the Watchmen for I watch their back!

BOX OFFICE: Transformers Debut Aftermath

Here's a brief take and follow up to the smashing Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen debut!

BOX OFFICE: The Dark Knight crosses $500m!

I told you so! The Dark Knight is only the second film to ever cross the $500m mark in yet another record 45 days!

Another "I told you so" was the Top 5 highest grossing films of the summer. Here are the Top 10 films of the summer:

1. The Dark Knight

2. Iron Man

3. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

4. Hancock

5. WALL-E

6. Kung-fu Panda

7. Sex and the City

8. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

9. The Incredible Hulk

10. Wanted

*Refer back to this blog entry for my prediction of the Top 5 box office performers of the summer.

BOX OFFICE: "The Dark Knight" soars above "Star Wars"

This weekend, The Dark Knight surpassed Star Wars as the 2nd highest grossing movie of all time! Star Wars (A New Hope) is at $460 million including the tally of all its re-releases since the movie first debuted in 1977. The Dark Knight grossed over $471 million this weekend in just 31 days(!) well on its way to the $500 million!

The highest grossing movie ever remains Paramount's Titanic.

BOX OFFICE: Batman #1 for 4th Weekend in a row!

The Dark Knight takes in another $26 million for the weekend bringing its total to $441 million. Batman now ranks as the 3rd highest grossing movie of all time before adjusting for inflation, of course!

-Andres

BOX OFFICE: Batman Fastest to $400 million!

As of Monday The Dark Knight crossed the $400 million mark in a record 18 days! The previous record holder is Shrek 2 at 43 days. The Dark Knight did it in less than half of that time! Shrek 2 went on to gross $442 million. On Tuesday The Dark Knight will become the highest grossing comic book adaptation ever!

Over the weekend, The Dark Knight took first place again making it the only film this year to be #1 at the box office for 3 weeks in a row. The $42.6 million 3rd weekend return set up the epic crossover the $400 million Monday.

Now, let’s sit back and wait until this film becomes the fastest to cross $500 million!

BOX OFFICE: Batman Continues to Soar

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest broke and set records two years ago. I never thought its record would be broken this soon. Spider-Man 3 reclaimed it huge box office opening weekend a year later and I thought "No one could out do this."

As of today, The Dark Knight broken and set another record of crossing the $300 million mark previously set by Dead Man's Chest in 16 days which Batman did in 10 days. Yes, The Dark Knight will be the highest grossing comic book adaptation ever made. Mark my words, Batman will become the 2nd highest grossing movie of all time behind Titanic in the domestic box office without adjusting for inflation, of course.

So far, the Christopher Nolan directed flick has grossed $314.4 million in 10 days thanks to a strong second weekend draw of $75.6 million!

-Andres

BOX OFFICE: Batman Returns!

In 1989, Tim Burton's Batman set a box office record by opening to a then-impressive $40.5 million dollars. Adjust to inflation and it comes out to over $70 million! The film topped out at $251 million when adjusted to inflation comes out to nearly $435 million! Subsequent sequels would open to bigger weekends then the first film, but none would reach the heights Batman reached.

The Dark Knight changes that as it opened to not only the highest opening of the Bat films, but also the largest single-weekend opening in history at $158.4 million easily passing Spiderman 3's record of $151.1 million! The Dark Knight, in my opinion, has a shot at being the largest comic book movie adaptation ever. The current record holder is Spiderman at $404 million.

With this latest installment to the reengineered Batman franchise, DC Comics puts themselves on the map once again after Marvel Comics made a surprising smash hit with Ironman. In the next 3 years, Marvel Studios will be rolling out a bunch of films based on their most popular comics. Next year, DC Comics/Warner Bros. will have a shot drawing attention away from Marvel with the hotly anticipated Watchmen movie!

The next Superman installment is called The Man of Steel. If The Dark Knight is any indication that Warner Bros. finally got their groove together, then maybe Superman can return in a truly epic film he deserves!

Will The Dark Knight be the highest grossing comic book movie ever? It will greatly depend on receipts for next weekend. I'll let you know then!

-Andres

REUTERS: Talk of the Town: Hulk a hit

REUTERS: Talk of the Town: Kung Fu Panda

BOX OFFICE: Women on Top of Indy (No Pun Intended)

Sex and the City took the Friday box office by storm opening with $26.9 million easily topping Indiana Jones 4's $12.2 million for Friday. Early figures show that Sex and the City is secured to be not only the #1 movie this weekend but also the highest opening for a R-rated comedy ever at $55.7 million.

Indy 4 is estimated to have dropped 54.1% to return $46 million in its second weekend out. The Strangers starring Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman opened in 3rd place behind Indy at $20.7 million doing much better than expected.

Iron Man continues to do strong business. It took fourth place after 4 weeks in the theatres adding another $14 million for a total of $276.6 million. Yes, I believe it will beat out Spiderman 3's total! Prince Caspian fell to 5th place returning $13 million for a new total of $115.6 million. This movie is officially a bomb in my books as I don't expect it to pay itself off.

-Andres

BOX OFFICE: Indiana Jones digs up box office gold while Narnia disappoints

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has the biggest opening of the year thus far surpassing Iron Man's surprisingly strong debut of $98.6 million early this month, early estimates suggest. Studio executives were shooting for a $150 million+ Memorial Day weekend opening for Indy's 4th outing. Early estimates for the Friday-Sunday opening has Indy at over $101 million. Actual figures will be available Tuesday after the holiday.

Narnia isn't exactly in ruins but it sure isn't going to be a major domestic return for Disney. My predictions for this movie were right on. After a disappointing lower debut compared to the first installment, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian returned $23 million for its second weekend. That's over a 50% drop!!! Disney already has the 3rd installment - The Voyage of the Dawn Threader - in the works and is slated to open early May 2010 . . . once again after Iron Man in, well, Iron Man 2.

Will Disney pull back on the production budget for the next film? Will it use a smarter marketing campaign to target its appropiate audience? The Disney execs better learn from the mistakes from this outing. Prince Caspian cost $200 million to make. Domestically, I think it will recover the production budget but will fall way short of the $291 million of the 1st film.

I don't think there'll be a 4th Narnia film.

Of note, all the major films that have opened thus far this month have had positive reviews but revenues are lagging behind last year's poorly reviewed crop of films.

-Andres

BOX OFFICE: Speed Racer Stalls! Iron Man Stays Atop Box Office!

WHAT A DISASTER! 'Speed Racer' $20M Weekend Half What Warner Bros Hoped; Rival Studios Accuse WB Of Inflating #s

Iron Man takes in another $50.5 million this weekend for a new total of $177.1 million! Iron Man is officially the highest grossing movie of the year!