By James Callan and John Gittelsohn Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) — “Avatar,” James Cameron’s 3-D science-fiction adventure film, took in $27 million in ticket sales yesterday, its first full day of screenings at U.S. theaters, according to Hollywood.com Box-Office. “This is a great start,” Paul Dergarabedian , film analyst for Los Angeles-based Hollywood.com, said in a statement today. The film may generate $80 million in U.S. sales this weekend for News Corp.’s Twentieth Century Fox, Dergarabedian said before the opening. Sales could be hampered, however, by the season’s first snowstorm along the U.S. East Coast, with snowfall accumulations expected in double digits. The record for the biggest December weekend release was set in 2007 by “I Am Legend,” starring Will Smith . That movie made $77.2 million for Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Bros. on its opening weekend, according to Box Office Mojo , a researcher based in Sherman Oaks, California. “Avatar,” about an ex-marine who inhabits a cloned alien’s body, is playing at 2,032 theaters with 3,124 3-D screens and at 1,425 conventional theaters, Fox said. Last month, “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” recorded the third-biggest opening weekend in box-office history with $142.8 million in ticket sales for Summit Entertainment LLC. With a production budget of $230 million, “Avatar” ranks among the most expensive films, according to the Internet Movie Database. Walt Disney Co.’s 2007 release “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” cost $300 million and Sony Corp.’s “Spider-Man 3” totaled $258 million, the IMDB Web site said. Cameron won an Oscar in 1997 for directing “Titanic,” which is the top-grossing film of all time with $1.8 billion in global sales, according to Box Office Mojo. News Corp., based in New York, rose 13 cents to $13.35 in New York in Nasdaq Stock market trading yesterday. The Class A shares have gained 49 percent this year. To contact the reporter on this story: James Callan in New York at jcallan2@bloomberg.net ; John Gittelsohn in New York at johngitt@bloomberg.net .
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Cameron’s `Avatar’ Takes in $27 Million in First Day of Screenings in U.S.
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