Box Office: 'Avatar' passes 'Dark Knight'

Weekend of January 22 – 24: ‘Avatar’ prevails, passes ‘Dark Knight’

James Cameron’s sci-fi hit flick “Avatar” prevailed yet again at the North American box office this weekend with a solid $36 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Weekend earnings for the Fox hit movie dropped compared to last week’s, but “Avatar” easily beat its competition by scoring an average of $11,461 per theater at 3,141 locations.

“Avatar” also passed the $533 million domestic gross of “The Dark Knight,” lifting its cumulative gross to $552.7 million. The film is also on track to beat the worldwide total of Cameron’s “Titanic.”

This week’s new releases generated mixed results, but “Legion” delivered the best performance with a three-day gross of $18.2 million, enough for No. 2. The film follows the battle between humans and angels.

Meanwhile, “Tooth Fairy” opened in fourth place with $14.5 million from ticket sales at 3,344 locations. Starring Dwayne Johnson, the comedy follows a mean hockey player ordered to duty as a real tooth fairy.

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Box Office: 'Avatar' wins it yet again!

Weekend of January 15 – 27, 2009: 'Avatar' prevails!

James Cameron’s sci-fi epic “Avatar” held on to the No. 1 spot at the North American box office one more time this weekend with another solid $41.3 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Fox’s “Avatar” lost the top spot to “The Book of Eli” Friday but regained momentum Saturday to win the weekend race with an average of $12,572 per theater at 3,285 locations. The film’s total currently stands at $491.7 million.

Debuting in second place was Albert and Allen Hughes’ post-apocalyptic action flick “The Book of Eli,” which bagged $31.6 million from ticket sales at 3,111 locations. Starring Denzel Washington, the film follows a loner on his journey to protect a book.

At No. 3, Peter Jackson’s “The Lovely Bones” picked up $17 million after expanding into $2,563 theaters. Based on the famous novel of the same title, the film lifted its early total gross to $17.5 million after several weeks in limited release.

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'Book of Eli' beats 'Avatar' at box office Friday

'Avatar' defeated at Friday box office! Denzel Washington rules for now...

Albert and Allen Hughes' post-apocalyptic action flick "The Book of Eli" kicked James Cameron's sci-fi hit "Avatar" off the throne at the North American box office Friday with a solid $11.7 million in ticket sales.

Playing at 3,111 locations, "Eli" scored an average of $3,769 per theater. The film stars Denzel Washington as a loner who travels across what's left of the U.S. to protect a book that may hold all hope for humanity.

Cameron's "Avatar" scored another $10.4 million Friday, lifting its domestic total to $460.8 million. The film is expected to pass "Star Wars" tomorrow and become the third highest-grossing film domestially.

Following in third place, Peter Jackson's "The Lovely Bones" picked up $5.7 million, reaching an early total gross of $6.1 million. At No. 4, "Sherlock Holmes" bagged $2.8 million for a cumulative gross of $173 million.

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Movie Review: “The Spy Next Door”

Seen on: January 9, 2010

The players: Director: Brian Levant, Writers: Jonathan Bernstein, James Greer, Gregory Poirier, Cast: Jackie Chan, Amber Valletta, Alina Foley, George Lopez, Billy Ray Cyrus

Facts of interest: Brian Levant also directed "Are We There Yet?"

The plot: A former CIA spy has to babysit his girlfriend's kids and protect them from a bunch of weird terrorists at the same time.

Our thoughts: Brian Levant’s “The Spy Next Door” is a terrible film. It’s as dry as a family comedy can get, and it suffers mainly from a chaotic plot, monotonous story and a handful of poor acting performances. Children of a certain age may appreciate Jackie Chan jumping around the screen for 90 minutes, but I stopped caring after the first five minutes.

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Four more join Jackie Chan in 'Spy Next Door'

George Lopez, Billy Ray Cyrus, Amber Valletta and Katherine Boecher are the latest to join Jackie Chan in Brian Levant's new comedy "The Spy Next Door."

Chan plays a man who babysits his neighbor’s kids and ends up batting a bunch of secret agents after one of the youngsters accidentally downloads a secret code from the Web.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Lopez and Cyrus star as two CIA agents, while Valletta plays the children's mother. Boecher is on board as a Russian operative.

Valletta's credits include "Hitch" and "Transporter 2." She will next star in Brian Taylor and Mark Neveldine's "Game." As for Lopez, he most recently did some voice work in Disney's "Beverly Hills Chihuahua." Cyrus will next be seen in "Hannah Montana: The Movie."

Chan recently starred in “The Forbidden Kingdom.” He also recently completed filming “The Shinjuku Incident,” an action drama about a Chinese immigrant who travels to Japan to follow his ex-girlfriend.

Jackie Chan is ‘The Spy Next Door’

Martial arts star Jackie Chan is set to star in Brian Levant’s upcoming action comedy “The Spy Next Door,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.

“Spy” follows a man who babysits his neighbor’s kids and ends up batting a bunch of secret agents after one of the youngsters accidentally downloads a secret code from the Web.

Levant, whose credits include “Snow Dogs” and “Are We There Yet?,” is directing a script by Jim Greer and Jonathan Bernstein.

Although I pretty much hate the idea of Chan playing a badass babysitter, I have to admit I’m somewhat glad the project is not in development at Disney. If that were the case, we’d probably get to see another “The Pacifier” or “The Game Plan.”

Chan recently starred in “The Forbidden Kingdom.” He also recently completed filming “The Shinjuku Incident,” an action drama about a Chinese immigrant who travels to Japan to follow his ex-girlfriend.