LOS ANGELES,  (Reuters) – Director James Cameron’s  new movie “Avatar,” considered one of the most expensive movies  ever made, on Monday saw its initial weekend ticket sales  raised to $77 million in the United States and Canada.

The movie’s box office performance has been widely watched  given its cost. Sunday’s initial estimates showed ticket sales  at $73 million in the U.S. and Canada and $159 million  elsewhere for global ticket sales of $232 million.      Box office watchers said a weekend snowstorm that buried  cities from Washington to Boston hurt ticket sales along the  U.S. East Coast. But as final figures were tallied, the  blizzard was slightly less of an issue than first believed.

“Avatar,” which mixes live action and animation, paints a  picture of a lush planet in outer space and tells of a man sent  there to infiltrate an alien race of blue people.

Film studio 20th Century Fox has said it spent $237 million  to make the movie, but some newspaper reports have estimated it  cost at least $300 million. The studio had said it would spend  another $150 million to market the film.

Despite its solid opening, “Avatar” did not set records.  The top worldwide total for a weekend debut is $394 million for  July’s “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.” The best U.S.  and Canadian initial weekend is $158 million for the 2008  Batman movie “The Dark Knight.”