James Cameron’s recently opened Avatar may not have ousted I Am Legend as the biggest December weekend opener (Return of the King takes the cake for all-time highest grossing December release, but came out on a weekday), but it certainly did well in its first day.
The film’s release at 3,452 theaters saw an intake of $27 million, which is shy of the $30 million brought in by I Am Legend, but is the highest grossing release for a Twentieth Century Fox production released outside of summer. Ice Age: The Meltdown previously held the record, with first day earnings of $21.8 million
Avatar‘s opening came one day short of being exactly twelve years after the release of Cameron’s blockbuster Titanic, and saw more than three times the earnings the 1997 megahit saw it its first day. For comparison, Titanic‘s opening brought in only $8.7 million in its opening. Much of the success of Titanic was thanks to word of mouth, and stellar exit polls suggest that the same will also prove true for Avatar.
The sci-fi action flick swept the box office competition on Friday, with the second biggest film of the day, Disney’s The Princess and the Frog, bringing in a mere $3.4 million. The Blind Side stayed in third with $3.2 million, while the only other opener of the weekend, Sony’s Did You Hear About the Morgans, started its run in 4th, with $2.4 million.
