these are the (North American) estimates for this weekend...

SATURDAY PM/SUNDAY AM UPDATE: My sources say early numbers show Avatar's projected North American cume, after only 17 days in release from 20th Century Fox, will be $350.5 million. And its worldwide box office figure should be $1.05 billion coming out of this weekend. Yikes! Then again, James Cameron's big budget technopic was helped by higher 3D ticket prices. As a Fox exec just gushed to me: "Mr. Cameron was king of the world but now has dominion over the universe. And he will own the top two slots on the worldwide all-time box office list!" Meanwhile, Warner Bros' Sherlock Holmes will have a domestic cume of $140.5M in 10 days, while Fox's Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel should see $158M after 12 days in theaters.

Here's the Top 10 (numbers will be refined later Sunday AM):

1. AVATAR (Fox) [3,461 runs] Week 3 - Cume $350.5M
Friday $25M, Saturday $25.5M, Weekend $67M
2. SHERLOCK HOLMES (Warner Bros) [3,626] Week 2 - Cume $140.5M
Friday $14.8M, Saturday $14.6M, Weekend $38.2M
3. ALVIN SQUEAKQUEL (Fox) [3,747] Week 2 - Cume $158M
Friday $13M, Saturday $14.4M, Weekend $37.2M
4. IT'S COMPLICATED (Universal) [2,897] Week 1 - Cume $47.5M (TBD)
Friday $7.1M, Saturday $7.8M, Weekend $19.5M
5. THE BLIND SIDE (Warner Bros) [2,926] Week 7 - Cume $200.9M (TBD)
Friday $4.5M, Saturday $5M, Weekend $12.5M
6. UP IN THE AIR (Paramount) [1,895] Week 5 - Cume $37.7M (TBD)
Friday $4M, Saturday $4.4M, Weekend $11.1M
7. PRINCESS & THE FROG (Disney) [3,328] Week 6 - Cume $79.7M (TBD)
Friday $3.7M, Saturday $4M, Weekend $10.4M
8. MORGANS? (Sony) [2,718] Week 3 - Cume $22.3M (TBD)
Friday $1.9M, Saturday $2M, Weekend $5.1M
9. INVICTUS (Warner Bros) [2,160] Week 4 - Cume $28.1M (TBD)
Friday $1.47M, Saturday $1.6M, Weekend $4M
10. NINE (The Weinstein Co) [1,412] Week 3 - Cume $11.2M (TBD)
Friday $1.45M, Saturday $1.5M, Weekend $3.9M
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updated again Avatar once again number one with very impressive sales

Princess & The Frog is almost to Blockbuster status, Hooray!!!

Avatar once again at number 1 the book of Eli did pretty good

I know they're so blue and sleek... mmm

I mean.. ah.. very impressive showing yes?

It'll easily pass Titanic, I'd say it'll pass the 2 billion mark. It's only 200 million away.

I just realized that two films I didn't even think were out yet have all but come and gone without making a noise. The Road and The Imaginarium of docor parnassus have just flopped... That's too bad. I just saw the Road and thought it was pretty good. I really hope the Imaginarium comes out in Korea.

When Cameron makes a movie.. studios hand him a blank check, along with some instructions that say "Do whatever you please.."

I actually thought Eli was going to take the #1 spot. Oh well, it was a good movie.