Well, Mel Gibson has joined Denzel Washington and Dwayne Johnson on the list of stars that couldn’t stand up to Avatar’s box-office might. The film on track to cross Titanic’s domestic gross of $600 million in mere days took the top spot again this weekend, falling just 14 percent, which is a smaller drop-off than last weekend. Earning an additional $30 million, Avatar’s domestic total now stands at $594 million.
Gibson managed to eke out a solid second-place showing with his R-rated revenge drama Edge of Darkness. Earning an estimated $17.1 million, Darkness’s opening was a bit beneath the low-$20 million number that many industry insiders were predicting. But perhaps with its greatest audience being older males who don’t go to the movies that often, the number isn’t surprising. (There was a call from Jewish community leaders to boycott the film due to Gibson’s comments a few years ago. No word yet if that movement gained any traction.)
Third place belonged to Disney’s romantic comedy When in Rome, starring Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel. which did better than expected with a $12 million take.
Holdovers dominated the rest of the weekend’s top 10. The Tooth Fairy didn’t open to spectacular numbers last weekend, but it held on really well in its second frame, dropping only 29 percent, earning the Dwayne Johnson-family film another $10 million. It now stands at $25 million for 10 days in release. Fifth place went to Washington’s Book of Eli. The R-rated post-apocalyptic drama has held on well since its January debut, dropping 44 percent its third weekend in theaters for a cume of $74 million. Legion took the hardest fall this session. Dropping a steep 61 percent, the Paul Bettany-Dennis Quaid drama earned only $6.8 million in its second weekend for a total take of $28.6 million. The Lovely Bones took the seventh slot with an additional $4.7 million. Its total take, after eight weeks in theaters, is $38 million. Sherlock Holmes held on to 8th place with $4.5 million and a total cume just shy of the $200 million mark. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel took spot nine, with $4 million and a total take of $209 million, and tenth place went to Nancy Meyers’ It’s Complicated, which earned another $3.7 million, putting its overall cume at $104 million.
With Oscar nominations set to arrive Tuesday, it will be interesting to see how things change — if at all — at the box office. Have a great week, everyone.
I pay good money to see Edge of darkness and it did not disappoint.. oh and I’m jewish too, so I wasn’t bother by it
And that should have read “paid” not “pay”.. hate typing from my phone
WOOO HOOOO! Third to comment.
…and you are basically crap, Ambient! Keep labeling and attacking…you have no shame!
That wasn’t me, Blue. It was some digusting troll. Sorry to disappoint you, but I would NEVER call someone Hitler. It’s a shame that EW is more interested in bleeping bad words than blocking hateful garbage like this.
I believe you Ambient Lite, shine on!!!!
Why would you see anything by a man that hates Jews, which also means that he hates you, Gibson Fan? Do you have any self-respect?
I am a devout jew and I loved edge of darkness. Now I would not want to meet mad mel the man, being he came from a family raised be a father who hates jews, but as an actor he is in top form here. I admire his work personal beliefs aside. Self-sepect has no merit to whether you like him as an actor but as man I have no respect for his beliefs.
Wow, 2 billion dollars worldwide.. Cameron is indeed the king of the box office world. Michael “cokehead” Bay must be rolling in his grave
Well, in order for him to do that, he would have to be dead.
Wishful thinking I guess..
Michael Bay died?
Go see Crazy Heart! Fantastic film!
James Cameron and that deuchabag that ruined the transformers after making a good first movie should never be mentioned in the same sentence.
You had me then you lost me.. “D-bag” bay has never made a GOOD transformers movie.. hell, he hasn’t made a good movie period (and yes I am including the rock too). So it’s idiotic to put Cameron and that hack in the same sentence.. bottom line, Bay does not deserve to smell Cameron’s sh!t
Seeing as Transformers 2 made 400+ mil domestically, I don’t think Michael Bay is too upset. Most directors are more than willing to settle for #2 if that was the figure their films earned.
Yes, most directors are willing to settle for “number 2″.
And that’s exactly what Michael Bay – and his whole filmography – is. A giant number two.
(With the exception of the killer Connery-carried “The Rock”.)
I guess “forgiveness” isn’t a strong belief in the Jewish faith… if the man apologized and seems to be sincere, how long will people hold his mistakes against him? I suspect if Mr. Gibson had been a Jewish man making “hate” comments against Protestants there would have been little to no outcry.
Yeah the jews can’t even forgive the nazis for the holocaust.. what is up with that?!
Lol nice one Oi Vey. I understand the anti-MelGibson thing among the jews but I will point out that people still tune in even after about half of Hollywood has made fun of the Christian faith. If we held the actors and actressess accountable for every thing they did…well we woulnd’t be able to watch any movies. Of course Mel Gibson was also being hyprocritcal…it all depends on the point of view
I read he didn’t really even say those things and the cop admitted to it. But of course that doesn’t get any press…
Anne – You have GOT to be kidding me. I don’t know which one of your statements is more offensive, or ignorant, or just naive. Are those qualities YOUR “strong beliefs”? Not your religion’s, I would never generalize a group of people, but yours personally? The Jewish people experienced discrimination and hate for thousands of years. To this day they are still regularly discriminated against. Also, Mr. Gibson’s father is a holocaust denier, and Mr. Gibson has stated that he does not go against his father’s beliefs. He is also Catholic, not Protestant, so if he made a derogatory statement against Protestantism, then yes, that would get press too, although not to the extent of this. See above for why.
I agree with you Anne! I think people haven’t been totally fair in their treatment of Gibson, and it showed in the box office performance of EOD. I mean, if we’re going to forgive some celebs for their heinous acts, shouldn’t we forgive them all?
“I suspect if Mr. Gibson had been a Jewish man making “hate” comments against Protestants there would have been little to no outcry.”
Gee, just shut the f up Anne. I am honestly tired of hearing that exact same line you wrote repeated over and over and over by morons, who make this claim ad nauseum but can’t seem to cite a single example of it. Just shut your mouth. You’re coming off stupid.
Way To Go Avatar!!! LOVED IT, saw it again this weekend!!!
I wholeheartedly believe that Avatar deserves the Best Picture Oscar, as well as Best Director and Best Actress, and many, many more. Avatar deserves it. I saw it opening night and fell in love with it. Yesterday was my seventh time seeing it, and I can’t get enough. It’s got my vote (metaphorically).
Not going to happen
thank god.
Take that, When in Rome critic haters!
take what?
Not Jewish here, and wanna be clear: Gibson has never sincerely apologized for his remarks. He’s still at heart a homophobic, racist scumbag. (And this from someone who’s favorite movie was Braveheart until the PCH incident.)
Your comment is COMPLETELY ignorant! MY favorite movie is Braveheart, I am 29 and Braveheart has been my favorite movie since I’ve been 15. It may not be the “best movie ever made”, but it’s MY personal favorite.
I’m also a hardcore Laker fan…
I in no way agree with what Mel Gibson may have said about Jews, but does that affect my opinion on my favorite movie… NO!!
I also in no way condone adultery, which Kobe Bryant has publicly admitted to.
Does that mean I now hate the Lakers… NO!!
To hold someone’s personal faults against them is not only ignorant, but stupid!
Does the fact that Roman Polanski is a pedophile make Chinatown and Rosemary’s Baby bad movies?… NO!!!
Michael Jackson most likely molested children. Does that mean he wasn’t a musical genius… NO!!!
Get over yourself Jim! And congratulations for making the stupidest comment I’ve ever read in the history of the internet!
I still maintain that Avatar is number one not just because it is a good movie but because there hasn’t really been any box offic smashes since it came out. The Mel Gibson movie and the Denzel Washington movie didn’t look all that good and don’t get me started on When In Rome
No box office smashes???
Are we not counting Alvin and Sherlock even though one has passed and one is soon to pass £200 million???
Alvin and Sherlock came out after avatar and they both made over $200 million. That’s still a considered as a box office smash. And if you stupid enough to believe it just because of the competition, then how do you explain the small drops week to week. Avatar has had the highest grossing 2nd to 7th weekend ever. The movies that came out the week after avatar all made under 5 million this week but Avatar is still flying high. Get over it. Every weekend with a drop under 30% is not just about competition but the box office draw of the movie.
Well said. I’m not a blinkered super-fan but I can’t understand the need to try and sully what is an amazing achievement. To get people into the cinema to the tune of 2 billion dollars world wide is amazing, regardless of the higher ticket costs (which nobody is forced to pay).
The Book of Eli was actually very good. I was surprised.
And I can still maintain that you’re delusional.
Here are some notable films that have opened since Avatar:
Sherlock Holmes
Alvin and the Chipmunks
It’s Complicated
The Book of Eli
Edge of Darkness
Two of them are $200M movies, one is a $100M movie and two that just opened are headlined by very established, bankable actors. Despite all this, none of them topped Avatar, which other than Weaver has no “name” actors. Stop trying to make Avatar out to be a monster in a sea of crap. It could have easily bombed and it didn’t, and it opened against and did well against some VERY serious competition. Stop trying to downplay its success.
Avatar is simply doing great. This is the movie that should get the most Oscar nominations come Tuesday.
Should only be technical awards. When you blatantly steal from other sources, you shouldn’t be rewarded. And this isn’t the first time he’s done it. He’s been sued for it before.
Does someone need to look up the word “archetype”?
A difference between borrowing an idea to a blatant ripoff
Hey, A. You have made your point over and over again on these boards. We all get that you don’t like Avatar. Now go get a life.
WHO THE HELL IS THIS PERSON CALLED “A”!!! this dude keeps posting so many times and is just here to bash Avatar.. dude get a life.. talk about a hater!!
Gee, good comeback. Get a life and hater all in one comment. So articulate
I take it that non-period after “So articulate” means you have more to say? If so, I await breathlessly with anticipation.
Hey! There’s A again! What’s he doing on yet another forum with an Avatar related post? Wow, you must really like this movie if you’re willing to spen all this precious time talking about it.
Whoa! Now this is getting ridiculous. I guess it’s up to Shutter Island or The Wolfman to take Avatar down.
I saw Avatar and I loved it, but this is insane!
Leonardo and Wolfman will be holding second places until Percy Jackson comes along….another different sci-fiction film to top the charts…the film is awesome and will take the NA and the world by storm….mark my words….
Fred, Percy Jackson and Wolfman open on the same weekend, and Shutter Island opens AFTER Percy Jackson. So your post doesn’t make much sense.
I think it’ll be one of the February 12 films (Percy, V-Day or Wolfman) that will finally take it out. And only then because demand will have finally burned off.
keep dreaming, LOFL, what a tool. go see your kiddie flick.
Stop saying “cume”
It was the same with Titanic.
Love him/Loathe hime but Cameron has some kins of touch with the public and tapping into them in a huge way.
Even as much of an Avatar fan as I am, I would never have believed these kinds of grosses were possible again.
And yet, he’s done it. That is some achievement no matter what anyone thinks of the film.
Agreed. Cameron has a penchant for creating a spectacle that demands to be viewed on the big screen. I’m curious how well it will do in post-theatrical mediums. I wouldn’t at all be surprised if it set a new record for (the still relatively new) Blu-Ray format in terms of biggest launch and most sold.
I think it will as well.
Drat, that should be ‘him’ not ‘hime’ and ‘kind’ instead of ‘kins’.
finally relented. I watched it yesterday in regular 3D. I’m kinda regretting not watching it in IMAX. Shoot. Beautiful movie.
If neither Del Toro nor the Taylor/Taylor combo can’t take out Avatar, then Leo and Scorsese will.
The Taylors are hardly even in Valentine’s Day (not even credited in the promos), but I get your point. It’ll drop the weekend of Feb. 12, finally.
Either that or the weekend of Feb. 19th. It can’t be #1 forever.