Variety has the early Friday box-office estimates and Sherlock Holmes jumps out to the lead for the three-day weekend with $24.9 million at 3,626 venues. The film, however, took that leading position by just a hair as Fox’s Avatar remains a close second with $23.5 million after playing in 3,456 theaters bringing it’s domestic tally to $160.8 million after eight days in theaters.
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel gives Fox a second and third place finish as it rolled in with $14.5 million in its third day. The film is doing rather well after earning $26.8 million in its first two days after opening the Wednesday before Christmas.
In the fourth slot is Nancy Meyers’s latest romp with Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin. It’s Complicated earned $7.1 million in 2,887 theaters. Coming in fifth was Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air (a film I watched again this week) with $3.7 million from 1,895 theaters as the film finally reached “wide release” status, but as you can see it is still working with almost one thousand fewer theaters than It’s Complicated.
It would seem Laremy’s predictions may end up a little low and the battle at the top spot will be of particular importance as he predicted Avatar would be the holiday weekend king with $52.8 million, followed by Sherlock. Will word-of-mouth by kind to Holmes, or will Avatar over take it this weekend? Laremy will be here Sunday with a full recap, but first here are those top five estimates once again:
- Sherlock Holmes – $24.9 million
- Avatar – $23.5 million
- Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel – $14.5 million
- It’s Complicated – $7.1 million
- Up in the Air – $3.7 million
