'Avatar' wins box office for third straight week

By Adnan Tezer Jan 5, 2010, 2:58 GMT

James Cameron's "Avatar" began 2010 by winning the domestic box office for a third straight weekend.

The 20'th Century Fox sci-fi film grossed $68.3 million over the New Year’s weekend, bringing its 17-day cumulative to $352.1 million. It marked the largest grossing weekend for any domestic film in its third week of release.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, "Avatar" also took in $133.5 million overseas during the weekend to bring its worldwide cumulative to $1.02 billion. That puts "Avatar" at No. 4 among the top global grossers of all time, behind Cameron's "Titanic" ($1.84 billion), Peter Jackson’s "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" ($1.12 billion) and Gore Verbinski's "The Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" ($1.07 billion).

Warner Bros.' Robert Downey Jr. film "Sherlock Holmes" came in No.2 with $38.4 million for a domestic cumulative of $140.7 million. Fox's family comedy "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel" finished No.3 with $36.6 million for a domestic cumulative of $157.3 million.

Universal's R- rated romantic comedy "It's Complicated" finished No.4 with $18.7 million for a domestic cumulative of $59.1 million.

Meanwhile, Warner Bros’ Sandra Bullock film "The Blind Side" finished No. 5 with $12.7 million. It became the first film driven by an A-list female star to gross over $200 million at the domestic box office.  The domestic cumulative for the film stands at $209.1 million after seven weeks of release.