Record weekend B.O.: $278M

The WSJ (subscription required) is reporting this 3-day weekend is a record-setter:

The sci-fi film “Avatar” led the way for a pack of films to set Hollywood’s biggest box-office weekend of all time.

With a U.S. box-office total over the last three days of $278 million, this weekend’s films beat the old record of $260.8 million from July of 2008, according to estimates from Hollywood.com. Final numbers will be released later in the week.

Per THR:

Warner Bros.’ “ Sherlock Holmes” couldn’t crack the case of the crowded Christmas boxoffice, outfoxed by Fox-distributed “ Avatar” in its second weekend and the scifi actioner’s remarkable marketplace hold.

James Cameron’s motion capture-and-live action epic used positive word of mouth and premium ticket charges in 3D venues to concoct a nearly imperceptible 2% decline from week-earlier grosses, topping domestic rankings with an estimated $75 million for a 10-day cume of $212.3 million.

“Sherlock” started strongly Friday with an opening-day record of $24.8 million in Christmas green stuff, but the Robert Downey Jr. starrer lost a bit of its boxoffice shine on each of the subsequent two days for a still-impressive $65.4 million bow.

Fox’s animated feature “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel” debuted in third with $50.2 million and a $77.1 cume since unspooling Wednesday. Universal’s romantic comedy “It’s Complicated” — starring Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin — debuted in fourth with a stronger-than-expected $22.1 million.

Paramount’s platforming George Clooney starrer “Up in the Air” finished fifth with $11.8 million from just 1,895 theaters, lifting cume to $24.5 million.

As this posts (scheduled 5PM PST), I’ll be at a screening of Avatar with the fam, doing my bit to help Hwood break the 3-day weekend record.

How about you? What movies did you see this weekend?

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