Avatar has a blast at the box office

Avatar has managed to defy expectations by amassing an impressive box office haul over its opening weekend.

The signs were looking good on Friday launch night of James Cameron’s sci-fi epic, where the film pulled in $3.537 million at approximately 2,000 sites during its midnight showings. Following this tidy sum, the domestic total gross for the whole weekend climbed to $73 million. Breaking it down slightly, this accounts for activity on 7,000 screens at 3,452 sites – 3D screenings make up $52 million of this sum.

The foreign market was also hugely profitable, with the movie clearing $159.18 million from 106 territories. Within these countries, the film was played on 14,461 screens, and 25 per cent of these were in 3D.

So adding these figures up, Avatar’s grand total stands at $232.2 million; this makes it the ninth highest opening for a movie ever and the biggest for a non-sequel. So overall it seems that Cameron has pulled off one heck of a feat, turning in a movie that is based on an original sci-fi concept and without an already established fan base. With results like this coming from its opening weekend, the chance of it surpassing its reported $500 million budget/marketing spend is looking bright.

These figures came courtesy of Box Office Mojo.