Jack-in-the-Box Office for the weekend of January 1-3

“Avatar” made $68.3 at the Box Office this weekend and in doing so not only beat “Spider-Man 3” as the highest third weekend gross of all time but is almost $200 million beyond where “Titanic” was at the same point. As a result of this it would appear that in just a few weeks from now it potentially could be the highest grossing movie of all time, both domestically and worldwide.

While “Sherlock Holmes”, “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel”, and “It’s Complicated” all saw modest declines leading to impressive net grosses of $140.7, $157.3, and $59 million respectively, “The Blind Side”, “Up In the Air” and “The Princess and the Frog”, and “Did You Hear About the Morgans” all fared better than the previous weekend. While “Did You Hear About the Morgans?” has underperformed overall, “The Blind Side” crossed the $200 million mark to become one of the most profitable movies of 2009. “Up In the Air” has almost doubled its budget with a total gross of $45 million, and “The Princess and the Frog” has proven to have the staying power Disney hoped it would, as its $86 million dollar total gross suggest that in a week or so it could easily pass the $105 million dollar mark which equals its budget. While films from the previous year are often helped by a weak slate of releases for January, “The Princess and the Frog” stands to face the most challenges as a result of school’s starting up again after winter break.

Only three films had a decrease from last week. They were “Paranormal Activity” which suffered from being in its 15^th week and available on DVD. “A Christmas Carol” fell almost sixty percent after the holiday, and the one real box-office loser of the week was “Nine” which fell 22 percent by making only $4.1 million and bringing it’s total to $14 million. This is a terrible time for it to lose steam, as it could bottom out with only a fraction of its $80 million dollar budget, and while Oscar voters are currently filling out nomination ballots no less.

The real winners of course are always the films with the highest per-screen averages, and for the second weekend in a row that title went to “The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus” which made $131,000 on four screens. Coming in second was “The Lovely Bones” which grossed $65,000 on three screens. Third place was the debut of “The White Ribbon” which made $61,300 on three screens. In fourth place, “Avatar” made $68,300,000 on 3,461 screens, and “Crazy Heart” rounded out the top five with $236,000 on twelve screens.