'Avatar' wins Friday box office race with $7M

Cameron's 'Avatar' is still the dominant force at the box office; new releases still no real threat...

James Cameron's "Avatar" held on to the No. 1 spot at the North American box office Friday with a solid $7.3 million in ticket sales, beating all new releases while reaching a domestic total gross of $571.7 million.

Mel Gibson's new thriller "Edge of Darkness" came close to defeating "Avatar," but Cameron's sci-fi flick prevailed, heading for yet another weekend win. "Darkness" grabbed $5.6 million from 3,066 locations. The film is based on a popular BBC TV mini-series.

In the thriller directed by Martin Campbell ("Casino Royale"), Gibson plays a tough Boston detective who penetrates a dark and dangerous world after his daughter is brutally murdered on his doorsteps.

Debuting in third place Friday was Mark Steven Johnson's comedy "When in Rome," which generated $4.4 million from ticket sales at 2,456 locations. The film stars Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel.

Meanwhile, "The Book of Eli" took the No. 4 spot and picked up another $2.4 million, reaching a cumulative gross of $68 million. Following in fifth place was "Tooth Fairy," which pulled $2.2 million ($18.3 million total).

Looking just at the top five films at the box office, I have to come to the conclusion that almost none of these films are of superb quality. Okay, "Avatar" is fun and "Edge of Darkness" is entertaining, but all in all, the quality here is suffering at the moment.

"When in Rome," as you can read in my review here, is especially terrible, and so is "Tooth Fairy." "The Book of Eli" is a visually pleasing experience, but the story really disappointed me in the end.

Source: Box Office Mojo (www.boxofficemojo.com)