Avatar is the best thing since sliced bread. I know, I get it. As expected the incredible word of mouth and a substantial repeat viewing audience has meant the James Cameron 3-D effects science fiction marvel has pulled in another $75 million over the holiday weekend, dropping an un-heard of 2.6% from last week. This makes it the biggest second weekend total in history. Avatar is now sitting on $212 million domestic from 10 days, and who knows how high it could go in January when it's IMAX holding is likely to go unchallenged. It's inevitable that it will hit $1 billion worldwide (international takings are at $405 million) but it's way too early to put a cap on it's domestic possibilities. I gotta tell ya, on a personal note - what I would give for Cameron to use a little bit of the mammoth fortune he has made on Avatar to buy the rights to the Terminator series when it's up for auction next month and make an ending to his two exceptional movies that can wipe out all the crap that we have been fed since. He doesn't necessarily have to direct anything, but just having him on board to block any studio crap, and having the final word on who should make any future movie would be very welcomed in these quarters. What's $80 or so million to him now anyways? Proof that Avatar is getting people out of their homes who wouldn't usually visit the theatre this festive season is the second place Sherlock Holmes, which took $65 million, more or less the same amount it would have made if Avatar didn't exist. The movie is decent, likeable and light-hearted pulpy trash that holds together well because of a spirited Robert Downey Jr, his supporting players Jude Law and Mark Strong, plus an unusually less than abrasive direction from Guy Ritchie. Fun movie and it's done well for a such a British orientated property in the States. It's total has secured a Sherlock Holmes sequel that Warner Bros. were clearly confident of by the seeds that were sowed in the flick. Just which A-list star they have waiting in the wings to play Prof. Moriarty is anyone's guess. Ritchie has connections of course (Brad Pitt was in Snatch you will recall) but we'll see. I'm sure you'll agree that the less we talk about Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, which finished in third after taking $77 million since opening on Wednesday, some $33 million more than the original's opening, the better. I feel sorry for any seven or eight year olds who parents took them to see that over the above two mentioned movies. That's a post-traumatic effect just waiting to happen when those poor sods are old enough to realise what they have missed out on. Nancy Meyers' middle aged, white American, romantic comedy It's Complicated, rather hopefully given an $80 million budget, the same as Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes, made a better than expected $22 million on it's opening weekend and will make a decent total considering it's subject matter and age of the three leads come it's final run. But decent is just not good enough for Universal and it's unlikely to make a profit for them. Where have we heard that before with Universal this year? Bigger than the Nancy Meyers flop is the ninth place opening of Nine, the Daniel Day-Lewis musical with the uber sexy cast, that took just $5.9 million. An embarassment for all involved and yes you guessed it, that one was supposedly made for $80 million. Lewis, Kidman, Cotillard, Dench, Cruz, Hudson, Loren... they don't come cheap. The Weinsteins have egg on their faces today because they bumped a lot of movies out of contention to focus on what they were obviously expecting to take off the same way Chicago did a while back but it's stalled right out of the gates, and will be gone before you know it. The Weinsteins chose Nine over giving up big money press to The Road, they bumped Michael Cera's Youth in Revolt into the beginning of 2010 despite good word of mouth at Toronto, and trusted Nine more than Tom Ford's A Single Man. Visually unappealing (uninteresting sets, locales), lackluster soundbites, a trailer that made me yearn to watch Fellini's 8/12 instead, and a director in Rob Marshall who I really don't believe could have surprised me with his film - resulted in ME not paying to see the movie. I guess that probably was the same feeling with everyone, right? Maybe it was the period setting for the older folk. 30's romanticised America over the euro-culture of the 60s with fast cars, wealth and hot woman. Richard Gere over Daniel Day-Lewis, I guess. Avatar $75,000,000Sherlock Holmes $65,380,000Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel $50,200,000Its Complicated $22,114,000Up in the Air $11,755,000The Blind Side- $11,730,000The Princess and the Frog $8,683,000Nine $5,544,000Did You Hear About the Morgans?- $5,000,000Invictus- $4,390,000