James Cameron’s Avatar ran away with its fourth Friday in theaters by grossing an estimated $13.3 million. The next closest competitor, newcomer vampire thriller Daybreakers, managed less than half of Avatar’s total with $5.8 million.
Avatar ranks second all-time in worldwide box office receipts and is less than $700 million from catching Cameron’s other unsinkable film, Titanic. By Saturday’s end, Avatar should surpass Michael Bay’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen for the domestic highest grossing movie of 2009 whose standing total is $402 million. Avatar enters today with $394 million and counting.
Daybreakers’ $5.8 million was nearly double that of its counter-programming by Universal, Leap Year with Amy Adams. The romantic comedy brought in $3.3 million and looks to approach $10 million by close of business on Sunday. The other newcomer, Michael Cera in Youth in Revolt, pulled in an estimated $2.7 million on Friday.
Holdover Sherlock Holmes came in third behind Daybreakers and added another $5 million to its ongoing total which has now surpassed the $150 million mark. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel came in fourth with $3.5 million while Leap Year landed in fifth.
