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James Cameron’s mega-budget epic raised eyebrows with its overseas boxoffice staying power, grossing $145 million -- a mere 12% drop from its opening weekend.

In Hollywood's biggest-ever box-office weekend, "Avatar" held the top spot while earning only slightly less during its second week of release. According to studio estimates Sunday, James Cameron's 3-D epic earned $75 million for 20th Century Fox, only a 3 percent drop from its opening weekend total of $77.4 million. "Sherlock Holmes" followed close behind with $65.4 million, including a record Christmas Day debut of $24.9 million. "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel" took in $50.2 million.

Warner Bros.' period action pic "Sherlock Holmes" raked in $24.9 million yesterday, notching the best Christmas day opening ever at the domestic box office. Undeterred by the onslaught of another tentpole in the marketplace, Fox’s "Avatar" dipped 12%, taking $23.5 million off 3,456.

After earning an impressive $16.4 million domestically on Monday, James Cameron's Avatar added another $16.1 million on Tuesday! That's the second-highest number for a non-opening film ever (behind The Dark Knight 's $20.9 million) and third-biggest Tuesday of all-time, trailing only The Dark Knight and Transformers , which opened on a Tuesday in 2007 and earned $27.9 million.

After months of breathless buzz, speculation, and doubt, James Cameron's "Avatar" finally arrived in movie theaters nationwide, and its box office prognosis definitely isn't blue.

"Avatar" rang up $3.5 million in domestic boxoffice from 12:01 a.m. Friday performances.

If there isn't significant attendance loss, then Hollywood is now estimating this pre-Xmas 3-day weekend's opening grosses at $80M -- or $27M for Friday including the midnight shows, then $30M on Saturday, and $23M on Sunday when most colleges and high schools are out Monday.

This week at the movies, we've got a strange alien world (James Cameron's Avatar, starring Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana), and a couple on the run (Did You Hear about the Morgans?, starring Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker). What do the critics have to say? Avatar is one of the most hotly anticipated films in years, for a number of reasons: it marks James Cameron's return to fiction filmmaking after a long layoff; its motion capture techniques were the subject of intense pre-release press; and it's the most expensive movie ever made. And now, the verdict is in: critics...

"Nine," "Avatar" and "Inglorious Basterds" round out nomination leaders, while Meryl Streep gets to compete against herself.

James Cameron's sci-fi extravaganza "Avatar" is getting its first airing before a mass audience in London.