NEW YORK — It was a memorable and merry Christmas in Hollywood as moviegoers shattered box-office records, responding in droves to a diverse array of high-profile releases over the holiday weekend.
The estimated $278 million in weekend box-office revenue broke the previous record of roughly $253 million set in July 2008, the weekend “The Dark Knight” was released.
A diverse group of films drew throngs to the multiplexes: James Cameron’s “Avatar” pushed strongly into its second week while “Sherlock Holmes,” “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel” and “It’s Complicated” all opened.
“Avatar,” the 3-D epic, topped them all, earning $75 million for 20th Century Fox, according to studio estimates Sunday. Remarkably, that was only a 3 percent drop from its opening weekend total of $77.4 million.
In its 10 days of release, “Avatar” has made $212 million domestically — and could be on its way to a worldwide gross of more than $1 billion.
“This thing is going to be playing and playing, I can tell you that,” said Bert Livingston, 20th Century Fox distribution executive. “There’s a lot of business out there. Everybody’s got good movies out.”
In second was “Sherlock Holmes,” Guy Ritchie’s reboot of the franchise with Robert Downey Jr. starring as Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective, with a weekend total of $65.4 million.
Jon Gosselin’s NYC apartment hit by ‘sick perpetrator’ over holidays
NEW YORK — Jon Gosselin’s apartment was ransacked by someone who slashed furniture, stole his TV and left a note pinned to his dresser with a butcher knife while he visited his children for Christmas, his lawyer said Sunday.
The reality show star was “devastated” by the destruction he found when he returned Saturday from Pennsylvania, attorney Mark Jay Heller said in a statement.
Gosselin’s clothes, bed and other furniture were cut up, and a family-heirloom vase was shattered, Heller said. His TV, other electronics and his dishes were taken by a “very troubled and sick perpetrator,” Heller said.
He wouldn’t disclose who signed the note or what it said, adding that police were examining it. Police declined to comment.
The burglary marks the latest real-life drama for the 32-year-old Gosselin, who was half of the couple who rose to fame as the prolific parents of TLC’s “Jon & Kate Plus 8” before splitting up this year.
Perry to take ‘Madea’ play on road
ATLANTA — Movie producer and actor Tyler Perry says he is taking his sharp-tongued character “Madea” back on tour.
Perry posted a message on his Web site Saturday that said he had taken some time off in the past few months “so I could spend my mother’s final days at her side.” His mother, Willie Maxine Perry, died Dec. 8 at age 64.
Perry says he will begin touring with his new play, “Madea’s Big Happy Family,” the iron-willed Southern matriarch he portrays in a wig and padded suit. She is the central character of many of his films, including “Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail.”
The actor says he is eager to have Madea on stage for the first time in five years. The first leg of the tour begins Jan. 4 in El Paso, Texas.
