Avatar Keeps Sherlock Holmes Off The Top Of The U.s. Box Office

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A strong Christmas Day at the U.S. box office didn’t give SHERLOCK HOLMES the push it needed to dethrone JAMES CAMERON’s sci-fi love story AVATAR over the weekend (25-27Dec09).

The humans vs. aliens movie, starring Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana, scored a second week at the top of the chart with a stunning $75 million (GBP46.9 million) three-day take.

The weekend estimate gives the film a 10-day total of $212.3 million (GBP132.7 million) in America alone. The film made a worldwide splash last week (20Dec09) when it scored a $232.2 million (GBP145.1 million) opening weekend.

After beating Avatar on Christmas Day (25Dec09), Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes failed to keep up, but it’s $65.4 million opening was still $15 million (GBP9.4 million) more than experts predicted.

Family film Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel has come in third after another strong Christmas weekend showing - it raked in $50.2 million (GBP31.4 million) over the three days.

Christmas weekend served up the biggest U.S. filmgoing weekend in recent history.

Estimated total theatrical receipts of $278 million (GBP173.75 million) from Friday to Sunday in the U.S. and Canada weren’t just the largest ever recorded, according to Box Office at Hollywood.com, but also the highest number of tickets ever sold in a three-day period.

The next four biggest box-office weekends were all dominated by one picture that grossed well over $100 million (GBP62.5 million), according to the Los Angeles Times.