Box office: 'Avatar' topping the new releases for the seventh straight weekend

If Friday’s numbers hold, Avatar will have held off the competition at the box office for yet another weekend. The James Cameron spectacle earned an estimated $7.3 million yesterday, putting its total domestic gross at $572 million, ahead of second place Edge of Darkness, the R-rated Mel Gibson-starrer, which brought in an estimated $5.7 million for its first day in theaters. Disney’s romantic comedy When in Rome managed to eke out third place at the weekend derby, despite miserable reviews, earning an estimated $4.4 million for its opening day. The film surpassed third-weekend holdover Book of Eli, which grossed an estimated $2.5 million. Fifth place for the day went to the The Tooth Fairy, which in its second Friday in theaters took in only $2.3 million, a number that doesn’t bode well for the film’s second weekend hold. Check back tomorrow and I’ll have the full numbers.