Avatar becomes Box Office's Top

A strong Christmas Day at the U.S. Box Office didn't give "Sherlock Holmes" the push it needed to dethrone James Cameron's sci-fi love story "Avatar" over the weekend (25-27 Dec 09).

The humans vs. aliens movie, starring Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana, scored a second week at the top of the chart with a stunning $75 million three-day take. The weekend estimate gives the film a 10-day total of $212.3 million in America alone. The film made a worldwide splash last week when it scored a $232.2 million opening weekend.

After beating Avatar on Christmas Day, Guy Ritchie's "Sherlock Holmes" failed to keep up, but it's $65.4 million opening was still $15 million more than experts predicted. Meanwhile, the family film "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel" has come in third after another strong Christmas weekend showing - it raked in $50.2 million over the three days.

Christmas weekend served up the biggest U.S. filmgoing weekend in recent history. Estimated total theatrical receipts of $278 million from Friday to Sunday in the U.S. and Canada weren't just the largest ver recorded, according to Box Office at Hollywood.com, but also the highest number of tickets ever sold in a three-day period. The next four biggest box-office weekends were all dominated by one picture that grossed well over $100 million, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Top Ten Movies at Box Office for December 25-27:

1. "Avatar" - $75 million
2. "Sherlock Holmes" - $65.3 million
3. "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel" - $50.2 million
4. "It's Complicated" - $22.1 million
5. "Up in the Air" - $11.7 million
6. "The Blind Side" - $11.7 million
7. "The Princess and the Frog" - $8.6 million
8. "Nine" - $5.5 million
9. "Did You Hear About the Morgans?" - $5 million
10. "Invictus" - $4.3 million