LOS ANGELES ~ Science-fiction epic Avatar enjoyed another stellar showing at the North American box office to finish in top spot for the fourth consecutive week.
Oscar-winning director James Cameron’s groundbreaking 3-D spectacular, which has already grossed US$1.3 billion worldwide, scooped another $50.3 million, box office tracker Exhibitor Relations said.
So far the film has taken $430.8 million in North America and is on course to overtake Cameron’s 1997 Academy Awards best picture winner Titanic as the highest-grossing film of all time.
The phenomenal success of Avatar left its nearest rival, Sherlock Holmes, trailing in a distant second place with $16.58 million.
Director Guy Ritchie’s high-octane take on the adventures of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s legendary London detective, played by Robert Downey Jr, has taken $165.2 million in three weeks.
In third spot was family film Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, which scored $15.56 million.
Fourth place was occupied by horror movie Daybreakers, a new vampire thriller starring Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe and Sam Neill. The film took $15.1 million in its opening weekend.
Love triangle comedy It’s Complicated, starring Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin, dropped to fifth place, taking $11 million.
In sixth spot was Leap Year, a romantic comedy starring Amy Adams and Adam Scott, which opened with $9.2 million.
Seventh place belonged to The Blind Side, about a white couple who give an illiterate black teen a home and a new lease on life, earning $7.5 million.
Up in the Air, starring George Clooney in the acclaimed story of a corporate downsizer who questions his role in life, held eighth place, with $7.2 million.
Teen comedy Youth in Revolt, starring Michael Cera, was ninth with $6.9 million. Disney’s The Princess and the Frog rounded out the top 10 with $4.6 million.