Avatar Opening Weekend

Avatar's opening is very, very good. Unfortunately, the film opened during an ice storm, and the effect is apparent in the Saturday and Sunday drops (an estimated -5% and -20%). The film would almost certainly have increased on Saturday and dropped less on Sunday had it not been for the bad weather.

Boxoffice.com has an interesting bit that gives a sense of how badly the box office was affected by the weather this weekend:

Grosses in New York dropped 18 percent from Friday to Saturday, Philadelphia was down 57 percent, Washington, DC fell 75 percent and Baltimore dipped 86 percent.

This bodes well for the film's legs, however, as people who had to stay away from theatres this weekend will find the time to check the film out over the holidays. The film's reception thus far is stellar:

Word of mouth is glowingAvatar received an A rating across all quadrants as well as a few A+ ratings on Cinema Score.

"Our exit polls are probably as good as, or better than, any I've ever seen," adds Aronson.

A gross of $300m+ is all but guaranteed now, although the film will probably not have the strength to get past $400m. Much, however, will depend on how the film performs throughout the first three months of 2010 leading up to the Oscars, for which it looks to be nominated in several categories.

At any rate, the film is already a major success for James Cameron, whose Titanic remains by far the biggest film of all time. Avatar is also doing very well overseas. Per Screen Daily:

Avatar recorded the sixth highest day-and-date launch in history as Fox International’s epic adventure grossed an estimated $159.2m from 106 markets.

Combined with the $73m North American debut, James Cameron’s film has amassed $232.2m worldwide in its first weekend and should see Fox International past the $2bn mark by Monday.

It's too early to determine how far the film will go on with these opening figures, but it looks headed for at least $800m worldwide, with a shot at $900. In short, it's a hit.

Now, about the weekend gross: Avatar registered the 31st biggest opening weekend of all time in North America, with $73m. This also marks the 6th biggest opening of 2009. The film also registered the 2nd biggest opening of all time among December releases, falling just behind I Am Legen's $77m but ending up ahead of Return of the King's $72.6m. It would most likely have claimed that record had it not been for the bad weather.

A more impressive achievement, in my opinion, is the fact that Avatar had the third largest opening of all time for releases with a theatre count of less than 3,500:

Just a note: 2001's Planet of the Apes opened in exactly 3,500 theatres with an incredible $68.5m.

It will be very exciting to track Avatar's performance, so stay tuned!