Friday, December 18, 2009

Avatar Watch

Mit Add On!

The newest animated feature is now in release, and Rupert's battalions are holding their collective breath and crossing their fingers.

... [M]idnight screenings of “Avatar” ... sold about $3.5 million in tickets at theaters in the United States and Canada, said 20th Century Fox...

And the Nikkster weighs in with her up-to-the minute analysis.

... Hollywood has refined its original unfocused $60M-$75M prediction upwards to $85 million for the 3-day domestic weekend -- better than the all-time December opening of I Am Legend at $77,211,321 but only because of Avatar's 3D ticket price premium ...

Avatar is huge in Australia with $4.8 million from Thursday and Friday combined, and running double what 2012 which did not have a 3D premium did there, or $2.3 million. (By contrast, New Moon opened to $7.8M.) In Germany, Avatar debuted to $1.7 million, compared to 2012's $1.4M. (New Moon did $2.2M.) In Korea, Avatar opened to $1.4, behind 2012's $1.9M. (New Moon made only $800K.) But in the UK, opening day was hit by snow so grosses are running behind ...

I don't think there's much question that Cameron's Big Blue movie will break records on its opening weekend. The question is, how will the feature sustain week to week? (Titanic opened at a good not great $25 million, but then week after week didn't drop.) I won't venture a guess if Avatar holds up anywhere near as well as the big steamship.

And the Blue People collect a nice chunk of change on Day Uno:

... "Avatar" drew a strong $27 million in its first day at the box office from 3,452 theaters. ... Among all opening days which are Fridays in December, "Avatar" ranks behind Will Smith’s 2007 sci-fi tentpole "I Am Legend" which grossed $30.1 million.

Add On: The L.A. Times brings us the happy news that Avatar, when all the quarters and dollar bills were counted, did better than forecast on its first weekend:

A stronger-than-expected Sunday boosted the weekend box-office total for "Avatar" by $10.3 million, a sign of strong momentum going into the holidays.

The James Cameron-directed 3-D adventure ended up selling $77 million of tickets in the U.S. and Canada

So there, unbelievers!

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's a nightmare. Dull beyond belief, mostly ugly to look at (a Yes album cover by way of Thomas Kinkade). Battle scenes are fun, but so long and visually abusive they cease to be fun. 3D is headache inducing, and the image is dim. Saw it tonight with a half full theater. Mild excitement, but no one really seemed to care much for the hackneyed story.

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