Sideshow: 'Avatar' is the top box-office draw again
James Cameron's Avatar is on a course to sink Titanic at the box office. No. 1 for the sixth straight weekend with $36 million, the sci-fi spectacle lifted its domestic total to $552.8 million, according to studio estimates yesterday. The worldwide total hit $1.841 billion, just $2 million shy of first place behind Cameron's 1997 Titanic, at $1.843 billion.
James Cameron's Avatar is on a course to sink Titanic at the box office. No. 1 for the sixth straight weekend with $36 million, the sci-fi spectacle lifted its domestic total to $552.8 million, according to studio estimates yesterday. The worldwide total hit $1.841 billion, just $2 million shy of first place behind Cameron's 1997 Titanic, at $1.843 billion.
"Avatar is dominating at a time where it has no big summer blockbusters to compete with it," said Paul Dergarabedian, box office analyst for Hollywood.com.
The apocalyptic thriller Legion, featuring Paul Bettany as an Armageddon-fighting fallen angel, debuted at No. 2, with $18.2 million. The family comedy Tooth Fairy, starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as a hockey player who spreads his wings as a magical deity, took flight in the No. 4 spot, with $14.5 million. The No. 3 position went to the Denzel Washington-starring The Book of Eli, at $17 million in its second week.
- Associated Press
Screen Actors Guild: We don't speak Na'avi
Just about the only place on Earth where they don't speak Na'avi is at Saturday night's Screen Actors Guild awards, where Avatar's cast (Sigourney Weaver, Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana) failed to win nominations, much less awards.
But kudos galore were showered on the casts of Inglourious Basterds (movie) and Mad Men and Glee (TV). Individual winners included Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart, Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side, Christoph Waltz for Basterds, Mo'Nique for Precious, 30 Rock's Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey, Dexter's Michael C. Hall and The Good Wife's Julianna Margulies.
'Jersey Shore' fans run amok in North Jersey
Police say fans of MTV's Jersey Shore deluged a nightclub in Montclair, N.J., on Friday night, forcing a road closure and leading to the arrests of four people for disorderly conduct and drunken driving. Property owner Dick Grabowsky told the Star-Ledger that about 2,000 people showed up at the 501 Lounge, which has a capacity of 800, for a meet-and-greet with the cast of the hit reality TV show.
- AP