Stephen Lang in Avatar (top); Danny Houston, Mel Gibson in Edge of Darkness (bottom); Kristen Bell, Josh Duhamel in When in Rome (bottom)
James Cameron’s sci-fi epic Avatar, starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, and Sigourney Weaver, got one step closer to beating the domestic gross of Titanic by collecting another $30 million at the North American box office, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Avatar easily beat its competition by scoring an average of $9,759 per theater at 3,074 locations. The film’s total gross now stands at an impressive $594.4 million. Worldwide, Fox’s hit movie has generated 2.039 billion since its release.
At No. 2, Martin Campbell’s thriller Edge of Darkness bagged $17.1 million. Starring Mel Gibson, this adaptation of a BBC miniseries follows a detective who embarks on a perilous investigation into his daughter’s brutal murder.
Following in third place was new entry When in Rome, a disastrous romantic comedy that managed to grab $12 million from ticket sales at 2,456 locations. Directed by Mark Steven Johnson, the film stars Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel.
Staying put at No. 4 wasTooth Fairy, starring Dwayne Johnson and Julie Andrews (above), which lifted its cumulative gross to $26.1 million thanks to weekend earnings of $10 million. At No. 5, the Denzel Washington vehicle The Book of Eli pulled $8.7 million for a total haul of $74.3 million after a three-week run.
Meanwhile, Legion (above, with Dennis Quaid) slipped to No. 6 with $6.8 million, lifting its total to $28.6 million. Following in seventh place with $4.7 million was Peter Jackson’s big-screen adaptation of The Lovely Bones, which reached a cume of $38 million.
Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law, picked up another $4.5 million at No. 8, bringing its total gross to $197.5 million. In ninth place, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel bagged $4 million for a total of $209.2 million.
Rounding out the top 10 was Nancy Meyers’ comedy It’s Complicated, starring Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, and Steve Martin, which generated $3.7 million for a domestic total of $104 million.
Source: Box Office Mojo (www.boxofficemojo.com)
Photo: Avatar (WETA / 20th Century Fox); Edge of Darkness (Warner Bros.); When in Rome (Philippe Antonello / Touchstone Pictures); Legion (Lewis Jacobs / Bold Films); Tooth Fairy (Diyah Pera / 20th Century Fox)