Movies
James Cameron's Avatar, which made $75m (£46m) over the holiday weekend, leads the charts. Followed closely by Sherlock Holmes and Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, theatrical receipts are estimated to have reached $278m (£173m).
According to data from Hollywood.com, this beat the previous record of $261m (£163m) over a weekend in July last year when The Dark Night made its debut.
"It's amazing to see one weekend with so many movies doing so much business," said Rob Moore, vice chairman of Paramount Pictures.
Universal's president of domestic distribution Nikki Rocco added: "I suspect that from today through next weekend, the box office is going to continue to be unbelievable."
Meanwhile, Bert Livingston - Fox's vice president of domestic distribution - conceded that he was "a little nervous" after placing Avatar and Alvin only five days apart. He added that he was surprised that "the market expanded to fit [Fox] movies and Sherlock".
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