James Cameron's Avatar spent a healthy third weekend atop the US box office as 2010 got underway, capping a week of record breaking earnings and adding more than $68 million to a current US total of $352.1 million.
But that's not the most impressive achievement for the movie so far - the big news today is that Avatar is now past the $1 billion mark worldwide in just 17 days, with $670 million earned from international markets. As some wag twittered last night, "If you ever wanted to borrow a tenner off Jim Cameron, now's the time."
The sci-fi adventure's roaring success isn't cutting off the likes of Sherlock Holmes or (sadly) Alvin And The Chipmunks followup The Squeakquel. Robert Downey Jr's take on the classic 'tec earned $38.3 million for second place, while the high-pitched rodents took $36.6 million. The movies are now at $140.6 million and $157.3 million respectively in the US.
With the top three still burning through tickets, no one put out a new wide release this weekend, so the rest of the chart is largely unchanged, with It's Complicated ($18.7 million) and The Blind Side ($12.6 million) rounding out the top five. Sandra Bullock can add a new career high, however-** Blind Side** made it past $200 million this weekend.
Otherwise, Did You Hear About The Morgans? actually managed to creep up one place, earning $5000. But considering it went from ninth to eighth place on the list, that's not much of a reason to celebrate...