Weekend US box office report: James Cameron's billion dollar Avatar

Given that there were no movies released this weekend, it's not surprising that there was no movement in the box office. The only two movies to swap positions this weekend were Nine, which fell to ninth from eighth, and Did You Hear About the Morgans?, which rose from ninth to eighth. The big story this weekend is that Avatar was on top of the box office. Again.

For the third week in a row, Avatar is raking in the cash. Jim Cameron's big gamble took in a staggering $68.3 million this weekend, and so far in its US run the movie has taken in over $352 million, but that's not the big story. Internationally, Avatar has become the latest entry in the billion dollar club, joining The Dark Knight, Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, The Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King, and Titanic as the only movies to make over a billion dollars at the box office. And it's been out for less than a month!

Given that it was a holiday weekend, and a three-day weekend at that, business was booming at the multiplexes. We saw that during Christmas weekend, and it's evident again. If you give Americans time off, they'll go to the cinema. Avatar was merely the top film; seven films below it grossed over $10 million this weekend.

Sherlock Holmes continues its strong run, taking in another $38 million for second place, while Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel took in $36.6. Sherlock has taken in $140 million thus far; Alvin has taken in $157 million. Stalwart The Blind Side (fifth place, $12.65 million) topped the $200 million mark. Milestones and champagne all around, apparently.

While not exactly blowing the doors off, It's Complicated is shaping up to be a surprise hit. The little comedy from Universal took in $18.7 million this weekend, good for fourth place. The total run in the US is pushing $60 million all ready, which isn't bad considering the lack of hot young faces in the relationship comedy. Then again, director Nancy Meyers is something of a master of this type of film, having helmed smashes like What Women Want and Something's Gotta Give. Plus, it's Steve Martin, so you know it's funny (or at least could be funny).

Up In The Air also continues a surprisingly strong run, picking up fifth place on a box office take of $11.3 million. A movie I'd given up for dead, Buena Vista's The Princess And The Frog, perked up quite a bit this weekend with a box office take of $10 million; that's about an 11% improvement over last weekend's take in the same box office spot. It still won't make $100 million, but that's definitely a positive sign.

Bringing up the rear is Invictus, with $4.13 million. It's just not caught on, unlike fellow sports movie The Blind Side (reviewed here). That just shows you the power of Sandra Bullock and America's most popular sport.

The post-holiday dregs aren't on us yet, but we're getting close to it. We've got the oddly actor-packed vampire movie Daybreakers, with Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe, and Sam Neill (usually a January horror movie is full of nobodies, so there must be something seriously wrong with this flick). We've got a Michael Cera comedy that's been heavily advertised in theaters for the past four months, Youth In Revolt (get this trailer out of my way ASAP. I'm sick of it and Cera's John Waters mustache). And, for the ladies, there's Amy Adams in Leap Year (which also features Matthew Goode, AKA Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias from Watchmen).

Welcome to 2010.