By Jeffrey Jolson

Gibson prayed for better box office

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 1/31/10 — Even though James Cameron’s ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow won the Director’s Guild award, his Avatar film continues to break worldwide records. Avatar is nearly $600 million in the US and over a billion worldwide, topping even his Titanic feat.

Newcomers over the weekend like Mel Gibson’s Edge of Darkness and Disney’s When in Rome  could not beat the blue people with $17M and 12M respectively.

Tooth Fairy found $10M under pillow while Lonely Bones fractured $4.7M. Sherlock detected $4.5M, Blind scored extra points with $3M and Clooney Up in the Air flew with $2.7M.

1 1 Avatar Fox $30,000,000 -14.1% 3,074 -67 $9,759 $594,472,000 – 7 2 N Edge of Darkness WB $17,120,000 – 3,066 – $5,584 $17,120,000 $80 1 3 N When in Rome BV $12,065,000 – 2,456 – $4,912 $12,065,000 – 1 4 4 The Tooth Fairy Fox $10,000,000 -28.6% 3,345 +1 $2,990 $26,106,000 $48 2 5 3 The Book of Eli WB $8,770,000 -44.3% 3,075 -36 $2,852 $74,373,000 $80 3 6 2 Legion (2010) SGem $6,800,000 -61.1% 2,476 – $2,746 $28,646,000 $26 2 7 5 The Lovely Bones P/DW $4,735,000 -43.8% 2,638 +67 $1,795 $38,014,000 $65 8 8 6 Sherlock Holmes WB $4,510,000 -32.0% 2,250 -420 $2,004 $197,596,000 $90 6 9 7 Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel Fox $4,000,000 -37.5% 2,526 -447 $1,584 $209,297,000 $75 6 10 9 It’s Complicated Uni. $3,720,000 -36.0% 2,096 -205 $1,775 $104,027,000 $85 6 11 11 The Blind Side WB $3,020,000 -27.5% 1,751 -181 $1,725 $237,913,000 $29 11 12 12 Up in the Air Par. $2,700,000 -30.8% 1,430 -277 $1,888 $73,173,000 $25 9