It's Ba-ack

How Much Can Avatar Re-Release Make?

Estimates say $8 million this weekend.

In case you didn’t catch enough giant blue people jumping off the screen the first time around, Avatar returns to theaters Friday with a whopping nine extra minutes of footage. But how much can those nine minutes be worth to James Cameron and Co.? The re-released film is expected to pick up roughly $8 million this weekend, which may not sound like a whole lot in Hollywood terms, until you consider that it will be enough to put Avatar over the $3 billion mark for box office sales. Still, Forbes argues that the figure may be optimistic. Since Avatar first came out last December, audiences' appetite for 3-D movies has dwindled. Could the real rationale for the re-release might actually be to set the stage for a Christmas box set?