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This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.

Arts & Entertainment

Box Office Review: This Is Getting Ridiculous!

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Photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox

Avatar continued its inevitable crawl towards history, taking in a robust $36M ($552M) to pass The Dark Knight in domestic receipts and Titanic on the international front. By next Monday, it should be the all-time box-office champ (not accounting for inflation, of course, in which case Gone With The Wind would be the easy winner and Avatar would be a mere 26th). The awful Legion had a respectable opening to place 2nd ($18.2M), just ahead of last week's runner-up The Book of Eli ($17M | $62M). Thankfully, The Tooth Fairy underwhelmed in its debut ($14.5M) while The Lovely Bones rounded out the top 5 ($8.8M | $31.6M).

Sherlock Holmes continues to do solid business ($7.1M | $191.5M). The same can't be said for Extraordinary Measures which looks like a bomb after just one week ($7M). Sadly, Dumb Fucking Chipmunk Movie continues to steal hard-earned treasure from stupid Americans ($6.5M | $204.2M). It's Complicated is turning out to be a solid hit for Nancy Meyers ($6.1M | $98.6M). Maybe she should direct the next Jackie Chan movie since The Spy Next Door looks like a turkey ($4.7M | $18.7M). In limited release, The Girl on the Train ($10,000 per venue) and Creation ($7429) had decent openings. To Save a Life, however, did not ($3401).

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