Wow.
Weekend estimates have come out.
Avatar will make an estimated $75 million this weekend.
This means Avatar will soundly beat Sherlock Holmes (Holmes is also a good movie, btw). Holmes will make an estimated $65 million.
Now... this is interesting because the "estimated" 1st weekend for Avatar was $73 million but when the actuals came out (the amount the movie actually made) on Monday, Avatar had made $77 million in its 1st weekend.
Given that the estimates for this, the 2nd weekend of Avatar's run, are sitting at $75 million, if it makes more than the estimates the movie may end up with a 2nd weekend that is larger than its 1st. This is likely due in large part to the storm last weekend that disrupted the movie-going public in the eastern US.
Also of note, if Avatar beats its estimated 2nd weekend even by the slightest margin, it will be the most successful 2nd weekend ever. (The Dark Knight is currently #1 with $75,166,466)
Estimated total worldwide gross for Avatar through 10 days?
$615 million!
I think that Avatar is going to hit $1 billion very quickly. Note that only 4 movies have ever made more than $1 billion worldwide... the most obvious in this case being Titanic at $1.8 billion.
Source:
Box Office Mojo