How to Make Cash: Get “Avatar”-ed, What Else?

It’s like a broken record at this point. I didn’t even post a box office story last week because it was just more of the same: Avatar, Avatar, Avatar. I sort of liked what Gov. Arnold Schwarznegger proposed at the Golden Globes, when he asked James Cameron to give half the proceeds from Avatar to the California state budget. Yeah, right.

Here is the top five at the box office this MLK weekend:

1. Avatar (Fox) – $54.6 mil; 3,285 theaters; $16,621 PT; $505 mil cume (Geez!)
2. NEW! The Book of Eli (Warner Brothers) – $38 mil; 3,111 theaters; $12,221 PT
3. The Lovely Bones (Paramount) – $20.5 mil; 2,563 theaters; $8,013 PT; $21 mil cume
4. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (Fox) – $15 mil; 3,296 theaters; $4,551 PT; $196 mil cume
5. NEW! The Spy Next Door (Lionsgate) – $13 mil; 2,924 theaters; $4,446 PT

I thought maybe The Book of Eli would knock Avatar off its multi-million dollar throne, but no such luck. Do you think The Rock playing The Tooth Fairy will do it? Certainly the medical drama Extraordinary Measures, starring Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser won’t do it, and neither will the angels-vs.-man thriller Legion. So it’s up to the Rock – and his appeal to the kiddie set – to topple the Na’vi. I’m thinking Avatar is STILL gonna stay on top, especially after winning the Golden Globe, but here’s the Tooth Fairy trailer, anyway, just for something different: