Hollywood celebrates a record weekend

HOLLYWOOD — The movie industry finished a monster year with the biggest film-going weekend in recent history.

Estimated total theatrical receipts of $278 million from Friday through Sunday in the United States and Canada weren't just the largest ever recorded, according to Box Office at Hollywood.com, but also the highest number of tickets ever sold in a three-day period — 37.3 million — since precise data started to be collected around 1985.

The next four biggest box-office weekends were all dominated by one picture that grossed well over $100 million — "The Dark Knight," "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," and two "Pirates of the Caribbean" sequels. But the last three days smashed the record despite a No. 1 picture, "Avatar," that sold a comparatively modest $75 million worth of tickets.

This appears to be the first weekend ever, according to several studio executives, that three separate movies each grossed more than $50 million domestically.

All of the stars seemed to align for Hollywood as Christmas Day fell on a Friday, numerous strong movies debuted or had recently opened, and audiences had been flocking to theaters all year despite the recession.

Warner Bros.' new version of "Sherlock Holmes," starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law, opened to a strong $65.4 million and an audience that was evenly split between those over and under 30 and only slightly more male than female.

Fox's "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel" collected $50.2 million over the weekend and $77.1 million since it debuted Wednesday. Its crowds were 70 percent families and heavily Latino. "It's Complicated" started with $22.1 million domestically, a solid debut for a romantic comedy from director Nancy Meyers. Paramount Pictures expanded its critically acclaimed George Clooney drama "Up in the Air" nationwide for the first time to a decent $11.8 million, bringing its gross so far to $24.5 million.

The only flop this weekend was "Nine," the big-screen adaptation of the Broadway musical. Its total since debuting last weekend was $5.9 million.