'Dear John' Knocks 'Avatar' Off Its Perch

FEB 8, 2010 - Finally, Avatar is knocked off its top B-O perch after 8 weeks at the cineplexes in North America. 'Dear John' topped the box office this weekend with an estimated US$32.4 million (RM110 mil), pulling in large numbers of young female moviegoers.

However, overall ticket sales slipped from last weekend, thanks in part to the Super Bowl distracting millions of Americans. Dear John stars Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried as lovers whose romance is curtailed by the Sept 11 attacks. It is directed by Swedish filmmaker Lasse Hallstrom and based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks.

Avatar earned US$23.6 million in its eighth weekend, taking its total to US$630.1 million. The sci-fi blockbuster surpassed the US$601 million haul of James Cameron's 1997 release Titanic last Tuesday to become the biggest movie of all time in the United States and Canada.

John Travolta’s latest, From Paris With Love, was the actor’s worst start in almost a decade. The crime thriller opened at No 3 with US$8.1 million, falling short of modest industry expectations. Travolta’s previous worst opening was the US$4.5 million start for Lucky Numbers in October 2000. Travolta was in cinemas last November with Old Dogs, which opened at ticket sales of US$17 million.

Here is the Top 5 North American B-O studio estimates for Feb 5-7, 2010 weekend, in terms of rank, Movie name (studio), Weekend takings in USD, (Cumulative gross, USD) and week on chart, courtesy of Boxofficemojo.

1. Dear John (Sony / Screen Gems) $32.4 million ($32.4 million) 1

2. Avatar (Fox) $23.6 million ($630.1 million) 8

3. From Paris with Love (Lionsgate) $8.1 million ($8.1 million) 1

4. Edge of Darkness (Warner Bros.) $7.0 million ($29.1 million) 2

5. Tooth Fairy (Fox) $6.5 million ($34.3 million) 3