Holmes bowed to an estimated $24.9M in its first day of release and could be headed for roughly $72-76M over the Friday-to-Sunday period making it one of the biggest December openings ever. With all students and many adults having Monday off, grosses should remain strong all weekend for all films. Multiplexes will enjoy a busy weekend that plays out like three Saturdays in a row.

Avatar finished Friday close behind with an estimated $23.5M in its eighth day of release pushing the cume to $160.8M. The Friday take was off just 12% from opening day a week ago. The Fox smash should play better into the weekend since Friday was not its opening day like it was for Holmes. The three-day tally may rise to $76-81M allowing James Cameron to remain the king of the world.

Fox will take third place this weekend too with its kidpic Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel which collected an estimated $14.5M on Friday in its third day of play. The Friday-to-Sunday figure should reach a potent $48-52M for a five-day start of $75-80M.

Meryl Streep's new comedy It's Complicated debuted to $7.1M on Friday and is heading for a $21-24M weekend for Universal. Paramount expanded its George Clooney awards bait Up in the Air nationwide and grossed an estimated $3.5M on Friday ahead of what should be a $10-12M weekend.

Overall, the top ten films grossed a stunning $82M on Christmas Day and should surge past the $250M mark over the three-day period making for an explosive holiday box office thanks to a variety of appealing product.

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Check back on Sunday for the complete weekend box office report.