You just can't stop News Corp.'s (NWS) Avatar. James Cameron's epic 3D picture grossed $48 million at domestic theaters over the weekend, as of early estimates from Box Office Mojo. This puts the grand total at almost $430 million (worldwide, Avatar has made well over a billion bucks). Amazing for this time of year.

News Corp. is also counting its money from Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, which is ranked in third place at the time of this writing; its total gross now stands at roughly $178 million. Coming in second is Time Warner's (TWX) Sherlock Holmes action adventure. It's possible Holmes and Squeakquel could change places once final numbers are released, since both are credited with similar weekend amounts. Nevertheless, Holmes has now raked in about $165 million.

News Corp.'s (NWS) Avatar is exploding like a blinding supernova at the box office. Although I have no interest in seeing it, I undoubtedly must be one of the only people on the planet who lacks the need to become immersed in the 3-D adventure. According to early estimates at Box Office Mojo, James Cameron's "titanic" cinematic beast scored another $68 million at domestic theaters over the New Year's weekend. Total so far: better than $350 million.

Time Warner's (TWX) take on a famous literary detective had to settle for second place yet again. Sherlock Holmes pulled in $38 million. Coming in third was the Alvin and the Chipmunks sequel, also released by News Corp. Indeed, there's no shortage of excitement at the multiplex.

Shareholders of News Corp. (NWS) are probably happy this Monday as two of the company's films -- Avatar and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel -- did very well over the three-day holiday weekend.

James Cameron's Avatar topped the charts at domestic theaters, pulling in an estimated $75 million, according to Box Office Mojo. If the project can continue to attract moviegoers in large droves, as well as propagate a lot of repeat business, then it should break even before it hits other distribution channels.

In a February 24th column in the Wall Street Journal, Bill Coles talked about his love of Arthur Conan Doyle's short stories featuring Sherlock Holmes. I enjoy Holmes, but prefer Agatha Christie's Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot. Why am I writing about this on BloggingStocks?

I believe that investors can learn a lot about methods of research and thinking about investing from reading the classic detective stories and novels. The way that they approach problems, think of solutions that others are likely to miss and do copious research, never accepting the obvious answer. These are all the characteristics of great investors, from Warren Buffett to George Soros to Peter Lynch.

Want to learn more about applying the methods of the great literary detectives to your investment research? Believe it or not, there's actually a book about it: Robert G. Hagstrom's The Detective and the Investor: Uncovering Investment Techniques from the Legendary Sleuths. This is not a book I would suggest to every investor, but if you enjoy a good mystery yarn as much as I do, you will want to pick up a copy.