No Shot, Sherlock—Avatar Rules

James Cameron epic tops Robert Downey Jr. action flick in big, fat box-office weekend

For a while there, Sherlock Holmes had James Cameron outwitted. But only for a while.

Cameron's Avatar ended up the biggest, fattest movie of a big, fat box-office weekend, with an estimated $75 million Friday-Sunday. The Robert Downey Jr.-ized Sherlock Holmes finished second, but didn't settle for second, with a bigger-than-expected $65.3 million.

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel ($50.2 million) and Meryl Streep's It's Complicated ($22.1 million) got in on the record-breaking holiday action as well.

More box-office highlights, including the debut of Heath Ledger's last film, and a Top 10 farewell to New Moon:

• The Chipmunks sequel edged Avatar on Wednesday; Sherlock Holmes edged Avatar on Friday. Avatar opened up a lead on both movies on Saturday, and is expected to do the same today.

• You know how you know a movie's a hit movie when its second weekend is only down, say, 30 percent from its first weekend? Avatar was down 3 percent. Overall, the movie's already grossed $405 million worldwide. (Titanic comparisons, however, are still not allowed.)

• Sherlock Holmes is Robert Downey Jr.'s biggest opener, sans Iron Man's mask.

• Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel is the Chipmunks' biggest opener, no qualifier necessary.

• It's Complicated is Meryl Streep's biggest opener this year, which tells you what kind of year Streep is having: a good one—again.  

• Conventional wisdom says It's Complicated will have a long shelf life, which would behoove the comedy's backers since it cost a reputed $85 million. Sherlock Holmes, by comparison, has already made back more than half of its $90 million budget from its domestic gross alone.

• Not every movie was full of cheer: Did You Hear About the Morgans? (ninth place, $5 million) apparently was still digging out from last weekend's snowstorm; Nine (eighth place, $5.5 million) broke wide, broke into the Top 10, but didn't pack theaters; The Princess and the Frog (seventh place, $8.7 million) got squeezed out by the CGI rodents.

• New Moon ($3 million) departed the Top 10 after a relatively fast five-weekend stay but an indisputably huge $280.9 million domestic take.

• With Christmas going, Jim Carrey's A Christmas Carol ($1.4 million) went, exiting the Top 10 after seven weekends and $136 million. Worldwide, it looks like the $200 million budget-buster was a moneymaker.   

• From Friday through Sunday, Hollywood's movies combined to gross $275 million, a record for a three-day haul, Exhibitor Relations said. Overall, Hollywood will close out 2009 likely having sold $10.5 billion worth of tickets, also a record.

• Heath Ledger went out on top. Again. The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus was, theater for theater, the weekend's highest-grossing movie, making $129,980 off four screens.   

Here's a look at the weekend's top-grossing films based on Friday-Sunday estimates as compiled by Exhibitor Relations:

1. Avatar, $75 million
2. Sherlock Holmes, $65.4 million
3. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, $50.2 million
4. It's Complicated, $22.1 million
5. Up in the Air, $11.8 million
6. The Blind Side, $11.7 million
7. The Princess and the Frog, $8.7 million
8. Nine, $5.5 million 
9. Did You Hear About the Morgans?, $5 million
10.  Invictus, $4.4 million

(Originally published Dec. 27, 2009, at 9:07 a.m. PT)