Avatar Has Finally Arrived

By tomorrow morning, we should know what Avatar will have made at midnight tonight. I'm expecting a bigger than expected number. I'll guess somewhere around $7-$10 Million. Tomorrow, I will post predictions for both Avatar and Did You Hear About the Morgans? Avatar is getting some pretty insane buzz and I think it could have the potential to be enormous.

Below is the latest Time and Sales price chart from Intrade. It appears that traders believe an $80 Million+ Opening Weekend is very likely. If the prediction turns out to be true, than the Opening Weekend record for December held previously by I Am Legend at $77.2 Million will be broken.

Here are some news articles on how tickets have sold so far.

L.A Times: Movie projector: 'Avatar' headed for $200 million-plus worldwide opening

One of the most expensive movies of all time is poised for a huge box office debut this weekend, though nowhere close to the biggest ever.

"Avatar" will likely gross about $80 million from Friday through Sunday in the U.S. and Canada, according to several people who have seen pre-release public surveys. Thanks to largely positive reviews, however, the people said the movie could easily outperform what polling currently indicates and end up even higher.

People close to the studio said executives are concerned about managing expectations for their costly picture going into the weekend. Fox's domestic distribution president Bruce Snyder said he expects the movie to open to $50 million to $60 million.

"Avatar" will benefit from surcharges at theaters with digital 3-D projection. About 60% of its theaters in the U.S. and Canada, and 30% internationally, are showing the movie in 3-D. Because Cameron shot "Avatar" using new 3-D technology, which has been a heavy part of the movie's publicity and advertising, the vast majority of its grosses are expected to come from screens that can display it. IMAX large-format 3-D screens are expected to be particularly lucrative.

Forty-four percent of advance ticket purchases at online ticket seller Fandango are for Imax screens, 43% are standard-size 3-D and just 13% are 2-D. At competitor MovieTickets.com, 55% are IMAX 3-D, 31% are regular 3-D, and 14% are 2-D.

Nikki Finke: 'Avatar' Now 78% Of Online Tickets Sales

UPDATE: That's as of this morning, according to the big online movie ticketseller Fandango. MovieTickets.com says Avatar currently accounts for 70% of all its ticket sales this week and is reporting 350 sold out Avatar performances. Both services say between 68%-78% ticket buyers are male. And that 75%-89% of all Avatar ticket sales are for 3-D or IMAX 3-D screenings.

Fandango also just surveyed more than 2,000 Avatar ticket-buyers and found:

* 76% consider themselves fans of James Cameron
* 45% say that "James Cameron's return as a director" was the main draw
* 72% say the positive advance reviews have increased their interest in the movie
* 70% say they do not care about the film's budget
* 72% had seen STAR TREK in theaters
* 62% had seen TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN in theaters
* 48% had seen TERMINATOR SALVATION in theaters
* 15% are ages 18-24
* 37% are ages 25-34
* 33% are ages 35-49