With three movies grossing over $50 million for the first time in history, this past three-day weekend–Dec. 25-27–brought in a record $278 million in U.S. and Canadian box office receipts, the L.A. Times reports.

Never before had three movies made more than $50 million each over a single three-day period, the Times said.

Those films were "Avatar" ($75 million), "Sherlock Holmes" ($65.4 million), and the squeakquel of "Alvin and the Chipmunks," ($50.2 million).

Also continuing was of one of the biggest surprise success stories of this movie year, the performance of "The Blind Side." In its sixth week of release its box office was up 16% and has now hit total box office of $184.4 million, according to the Times.

–Chuck Ross