'Daybreakers' gets burned on Friday by 'Avatar's' $13.3 million

"Daybreakers" coudln't put up much of a fight versus James Cameron's monster "Avatar," but it still managed No. 2 on Friday.

Credit: Lionsgate

Three new films attempted to knock "Avatar" off the box office thrown with little success on Friday.  Especially as James Cameron's epic has become a pop culture phenomenon and continues to generate huge returns.  

On Friday, "Avatar" grossed $13.3 million for a new cume of $393.3 million.  Overall, the Sci-Fi fantasy should find another $38-40 million over the weekend. Already the second highest grossing picture globally of all time, the question remains whether it can topple "Titanic's" domestic high mark of $600 million set a decade ago.

In second place was the debut of "Daybreakers" with $5.8 million.  The Lionsgate vampire flick performed within expectations and should do $14-17 million for the 3-day.  If it performs more like an action film than a horror flick -- which usually finds a traditional Friday to Saturday drop -- it could go even higher.

The third slot went to "Sherlock Holmes" with another $5.1 million.  Currently at $153.7 million, the Robert Downey, Jr. hit should solve anywhere from $15-18 million for the weekend.  The big question is when does Warner Bros. announce a sequel?

Fourth found the happy-go-lucky CG animated "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel" with $3.5 million and a new running total of $165.3 million.  The "Chipmunks" could jump to third when all is said and done depending on how well the matinees go today and Sunday.

"Leap Year" made it into the fifth slot with $3.3 million.  The criticially maligned romantic comedy should do anywhere from $8-10 million for the weekend although you can bet this is one release Universal Pictures would like to quickly forget about.

"Youth in Revolt," the weekend's last newcomer, grossed $2.7 million off just 1,873 theaters.  Depending on word of mouth, the Michael Cera comedy should gross around $7 million for the weekend.  That was within expectations based on industry tracking, but here's hoping the very funny flick can find an audience before landing on DVD and cable.

Look for complete weekend estimates tomorrow on HitFix.

Gregory Ellwood
Editor-in-Chief, Co-Founder

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With over a decade of experience in the movie industry, Ellwood survived working for two major studios and has written for Variety, MSN and the LA Times. A co-founder of HitFix, Ellwood spends his time relaxing hitting 3’s on the basketball court and following his beloved Clippers.