An absence of new movies meant very little change for the overall box office standings. A lack of competition, though, meant lots of movement for Avatar.

Over the weekend, the sci-fi extravaganza packed an additional $68.5 million to its already-impressive domestic total. The figure - a record for any entry in its third week - brought the film that much closer to becoming one of the top domestic grossers ever. Avatar ($352.1 million) is now only days away from passing 10th place finisher Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith ($380.3 million).

Internationally, James Cameron is just a few rungs away from one of his other films. In just 17 days, the 20th Century Fox release has pulled in approximately $1.02 billion. That places Avatar behind only Titanic ($1.84 billion), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ($1.12 billion) and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest ($1.07 billion).

1. Avatar, 20th Century Fox, $68,490,688 (avg. $19,789)
2. Sherlock Holmes, Warner Bros., $36,612,481 (avg. $10,097)
3. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, 20th Century Fox, $35,189,653 (avg. $9391)
4. It’s Complicated, Universal, $18,802,965 (avg. $6490)
5. The Blind Side, Warner Bros., $11,912,749 (avg. $4071)
6. Up in the Air, Paramount, $10,720,052 (avg. $5657)
7. The Princess and the Frog, Disney, $9,824,311 (avg. $2952)
8. Did You Hear About the Morgans?, Sony, $4,932,338 (avg. $1815)
9. Invictus, Warner Bros., $3,909,312 (avg. $1802)
10. Nine, Weinstein Co., $3,901,203 (avg. $2763)

(You can review last week’s numbers here.)