DEAR JOHN & the Top Ten
Channing Tatum, Amanda Seyfried in Dear John
Screen Gems’ romance drama Dear John dethroned James Cameron’s Avatar at the North American box office this weekend with a surprising $32.4 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Lasse Hallström’s big-screen adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks novel scored an average of $10,913 per theater at 2,969 locations, enough to end the impressive winning streak of Cameron’s hit epic.
At No. 2, Avatar bagged another $23.6 million from ticket sales at 3,000 locations, a solid weekend gross after eight weeks in release. Domestically, Fox’s sci-fi hit flick has reached a cumulative gross of $630 million.
New entry From Paris with Love generated $8.1 million in third place. Pierre Morel’s thriller with John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers is playing at 2,722 locations and scored a mediocre average of $2,983 per theater.
Meanwhile, Mel Gibson’s revenge flick Edge of Darkness collected $7 million at No. 4, lifting its total gross to $29 million. Following in fifth place with $6.5 million was Dwayne Johnson’s Tooth Fairy, which brought its total haul to $34.3 million.
At No. 6, the romantic comedy When in Rome picked up $5.5 million for a cume of $20.8 million, while Denzel Washington’s The Book of Eli reached a domestic total of $82.1 million after weekend earnings of $4.8 million.
Breaking into the top 10 this weekend was Crazy Heart (above), which Fox Searchlight expanded to 819 theaters following Jeff Bridges’ Oscar nomination. Crazy Heart bagged $3.6 million in eighth place, reaching a total of $11.1 million.
Legion slipped to No. 9 with a three-day gross of $3.4 million and a cumulative gross of $34.6 million. Rounding out the top 10 with 2.6 million was Robert Downey Jr’s Sherlock Holmes, which brought its total gross to $201.5 million.
Next week’s box office race will be quite an interesting one to follow, as three wide release will hit theaters and take aim at the current chart leaders. Opening are The Wolfman, Valentine’s Day and Percy Jackson.
I think it’s safe to say Avatar won’t be able to make it back to No. 1 with this lineup. Still, Cameron’s flick had a fantastic seven-week run, and it will be quite a while until we’ll see a blockbuster perform that well.
Source: Box Office Mojo (www.boxofficemojo.com)
Photo: Dear John (Scott Garfield / Dear John, LLC)
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Tags: Amanda Seyfried, Avatar, Box Office, Channing Tatum, Crazy Heart, Dear John, From Paris with Love, Jeff Bridges, Lasse Hallström, Pierre Morel
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