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Summary
The costly 3-D extravaganza Avatar spent a second weekend atop the North American box office, fending off a strong challenge from newcomer Sherlock Holmes as Christmas-holiday moviegoers powered overall sales to a new record.Avatar earned 75 million dollars (USD) over the weekend. Internationally, the sci-fi film led the pack again, with 145 million from 108 markets.Avatar, from Titanic writer/director James Cameron, has earned over 212 million after 10 days of release across the United States and Canada. Its foreign total rose to 405 million. British director Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes followed in the second position with more than 65 million in North America. The film looks set to give star Robert Downey Jr. his second movie franchise after Iron Man. It ranks as the fifth-biggest December opener. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, a live action/animated sequel to the 2007 worldwide hit, opened at No. 3. It's Complicated, a comedy starring Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin, rounded out the top 4. Actor Charlie Sheen, star of the hit sitcom Two and a Half Men, has been released from jail in the Colorado ski resort city of Aspen after his Christmas Day arrest on domestic violence charges. Police did not identify the person whom Sheen was accused of assaulting. But various websites have said Sheen shoved his third wife, Brooke Mueller, during a heated quarrel.
