Box Office, Scifi | featured news

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.

FRIDAY PM UPDATE: With a big pricetag of $175 million, and bad buzz preceding it, G.I. Joe seemed certain to tank. For months, Paramount's claims that the movie worked fell on deaf ears. Not until the Stephen Sommers' directed pic came on tracking with incredibly high awareness among males (with scores in the 90s).

The "Transformers" sequel has become China's biggest boxoffice hit ever by earning 400 million Chinese yuan ($59 million), a publicist for one of the country's two film importers said.

Paramount Pictures had estimated that the movie would make about $50 million for the weekend, but figured that strong reviews helped carry it to the bigger opening.