'Avatar' rules box office universe

LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Science-fiction epic "Avatar" enjoyed another stellar showing at the North American box office to finish in top spot for the fourth consecutive week, final figures showed Monday.

Oscar-winning director James Cameron's groundbreaking 3-D spectacular, which has already grossed 1.3 billion dollars worldwide, scooped another 50.3 million dollars, box office tracker Exhibitor Relations said.

So far the film has taken 430.8 million dollars in North America and is on course to overtake Cameron's 1997 Academy Awards best picture winner "Titanic" as the highest-grossing film of all time.

The phenomenal success of "Avatar" left its nearest rival, "Sherlock Holmes," trailing in a distant second place with 16.58 million dollars.

Director Guy Ritchie's high-octane take on the adventures of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's legendary London detective, played by Robert Downey Jr, has taken 165.2 million dollars in three weeks.

In third spot was family film "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel," which scored 15.56 million dollars.

Fourth place was occupied by horror movie "Daybreakers," a new vampire thriller starring Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe and Sam Neill. The film took 15.1 million dollars in its opening weekend.

Love triangle comedy "It's Complicated," starring Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin, dropped to fifth place, taking 11 million dollars.

In sixth spot was "Leap Year," a romantic comedy starring Amy Adams and Adam Scott, which opened with 9.2 million.

Seventh place belonged to "The Blind Side," about a white couple who give an illiterate black teen a home and a new lease on life, earning 7.5 million dollars.

"Up in the Air," starring George Clooney in the acclaimed story of a corporate downsizer who questions his role in life, held eighth place, with 7.2 million dollars.

Teen comedy "Youth In Revolt", starring Michael Cera, was ninth with 6.9 million dollars. Disney's "The Princess and the Frog" rounded out the top 10 with 4.6 million dollars.