‘Avatar’ Leads Box Office For Sixth Week

Armies of vengeful angels, medical researchers, and hockey-stick-wielding fairies were no match for James Cameron’s 3D epic. “Avatar” led the box office for the sixth week in a row with an estimated $36 million.

“Legion,” the apocalyptic action thriller starring Paul Bettany and Dennis Quaid, had the highest debut this week, bringing in $18 million – good enough for second place. (“Legion” wasn’t screened for critics in advance, and now sits with a Rotten Tomatoes ranking of 23 percent.) Disney’s “The Tooth Fairy” with Dwayne Johnson earned a fourth-place spot with $14.5 million, and “Extraordinary Measures” starring Brendan Fraser and Harrison Ford had a disappointing first week with $7 million, coming in seventh place on the weekend.

Meanwhile, “Avatar” moved into second-place on the all-time domestic box office list. The Golden Globe winner for Best Picture has earned $552.7 million here, part of the $1.7 billion it’s earned globally.

Here’s the top five from the weekend, courtesy of BoxOfficeMojo.com:

Rank. Movie Title (Distributor)
Weekend Gross | Theaters | Total Gross | Week #

1. Avatar (Fox)
$36.0 million | 3,141 | $552.8 million | 6

2. Legion (2010) (Sony / Screen Gems)
$18.2 million | 2,476 | $18.2 million | 1

3. The Book of Eli (Warner Bros.)
$17.0 million | 3,111 | $62.0 million | 2

4. The Tooth Fairy (Fox)
$14.5 million | 3,344 | $14.5 million | 1

5. The Lovely Bones (Paramount (DreamWorks))
$8.8 million | 2,571 | $31.6 million | 7