LOS ANGELES, Dec 23, (RTRS): Like so many pricey Christmas presents, Hollywood opens a pair of wide releases Friday, “Sherlock Holmes” and “It’s Complicated.” A third — “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel” — opened Wednesday to get a jump on the holiday weekend.
Warner Bros.’ “Sherlock Holmes,” starring Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law, is the strongest candidate to top the three-day session, eyeing $50 million or more through Sunday. The film appears to boast broad prerelease interest, though critical reaction bears watching.
But don’t count out incumbent champ “Avatar,” which could enjoy an unusually strong hold following its $77.3 million debut last weekend.

Fox’s costly 3D release was hampered by an East Coast snowstorm, and some of that lost business should buoy the film during its second round.
“Alvin,” also from Fox, should come in just short of the $44 million domestic debut of its 2007 predecessor. Holiday celebrations might dilute its Friday grosses modestly, and some of the box office cream for the Chipmunks tale will have been scooped off the top in its first two days.
Universal’s romantic comedy “It’s Complicated,” starring Meryl Streep, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, should figure somewhere in the double-digit millions. Its prospects are tied to support among older female moviegoers.

Also this weekend, a handful of awards contenders will mount major expansions. Those include the Weinstein Co’s musical “Nine,” Focus Features’ drama “A Serious Man” and Paramount’s George Clooney vehicle “Up in the Air.”
On an industrywide basis, Hollywood has a tough year-ago comparison. Box office for the weekend of Dec 26-28 totaled a huge $201.6 million, bolstered by the $36.4 million bow of “Marley & Me” and three other $20 million-plus openings.
On the other hand, the industry’s year-end tally will be fattened by an extra weekend squeezed into 2009, namely next weekend’s New Year’s frame. Nielsen EDI always starts its boxoffice year on the first business day after New Year’s weekend, which this time will be Jan 4.

Poor Dr Watson. Always the sidekick, never the star.
Jude Law hopes to rectify that situation with his charismatic performance alongside Robert Downey Jr in “Sherlock Holmes,” making the detective’s right-hand-man a handsome action hero in his own right. He’s just not that comfortable with his new nickname: “Hotson.” “Mostly I was only hot because I was wearing those thick tweed suits, massive overcoats and hat and gloves,” Law said, deflecting the accolade. “I was always the one perspiring on set.”
Law stresses that the film’s version of Watson — a dapper army veteran with an eye for the ladies — is firmly based on the 19th-century stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Director Guy Ritchie wanted to give the tales a 21st-century spin while staying close to the original material.

“There’s a reference in one of the books to Watson being very popular with women,” Law said. “So that fits.”
Far from being the bumbler familiar from classic Holmes movies, Watson is a foil and an equal for the detective, and their bickering relationship gives the film a big dose of buddy comedy.
“As soon as I knew Guy and Robert were involved, it was clearly going to be a reevaluation of a very familiar duo dynamic,” said Law, cheerful and relaxed in an interview to promote the movie, which opens around the world this week.
“We were much more interested in creating this equal of two halves, both flawed and both trying to put up with living with each other and both sort of adoring each other but also hating each other.”
Law, 36, has had an eventful 2009, in which he played a critically praised “Hamlet” in London’s West End and on Broadway. He was also in the news for fathering a child during a brief relationship with model Samantha Burke.

Law said he was still “slightly shell-shocked” after eight months of “Hamlet,” “of the most remarkable experiences in my life.”
Meeting Broadway theatergoers reminded him that interacting with the public can be a pleasure. Avoiding the paparazzi is more of a chore. But he says he doesn’t let it stop him.
“You just live accordingly,” Law said. “You learn back routes to an awful lot of places. The glamour is going in through the kitchen and over the back fence.”