James Cameron, Friday Box Office | featured news

Screen Gems is back in good form with thriller The Roommate, which easily beat Universal/Relativity’s 3D Sanctum at the Friday box office in grossing an estimated $6.4 million from 2,534 screens. Sanctum, executive produced by James Cameron, grossed an estimated $3.6 million from 2,787 runs, including more than 2,000 3D runs. The Australian adventure-thriller also is playing in 178 Imax theaters.

It was love that slayed the mighty "Avatar" -- or, at least, knocked it out of the top position at the boxoffice that it has commanded for the previous seven weeks. "Dear John" proved to be more popular than expected, taking in an estimated $13.8 million on Friday in 2,969 theaters.

"Avatar" grossed yet another strong $30 million over the weekend for a new domestic total of $594.4 million. That stunningly puts James Cameron's blockbuster only days away from passing "Titanic's" U.S. mark of $600 million. "Edge of Darkness" found a solid $17.1 million and "When in Rome" $`12.1 million.

Now that 20th Century Fox's Avatar is the highest grossing movie of all time (not adjusted for inflation or higher 3D ticket prices), it should pass $2 billion worldwide by early next week (its global total was $1,917,419,460 last Thursday). The pic's runaway success has answered all its critics, so there's not much more to say except, Wow!

Continuing its reign atop the boxoffice, Fox's "Avatar" easily held on to the No. 1 spot Friday as it entered its fourth weekend, earning another $13.3 million.

Fox pic tops first box office of 2010 -- Twentieth Century Fox's "Avatar" jumped the $300 million mark on New Year's Day--its 15th day in release--grossing an estimated $25 million from 3,461 theaters for a cume of $308.8 million.

If there isn't significant attendance loss, then Hollywood is now estimating this pre-Xmas 3-day weekend's opening grosses at $80M -- or $27M for Friday including the midnight shows, then $30M on Saturday, and $23M on Sunday when most colleges and high schools are out Monday.