Logan Lerman in Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
This past weekend was particularly good at the North American box office thanks to Valentine's Day falling on a Sunday, a day that is usually softer than both Friday and Saturday. President's Day falling on the Monday after didn't do any harm, either.
Somewhat surprisingly, the top movie on Monday was Chris Columbus' Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, with $7.4 million and a total of $38.6 million after four days according to figures found at Box Office Mojo. The weekend's top grosser, Garry Marshall's all-star romantic comedy Valentine’s Day, fell to #2, with $6.8 million and a pretty impressive total of $63.1 million. Valentine’s Day stars Julia Roberts, Ashton Kutcher, Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, Anne Hathaway, Taylor Lautner, Eric Dane, Shirley MacLaine, Taylor Swift, Bradley Cooper, Topher Grace, and many others.
Following in third place was James Cameron's Avatar with $5.1 million and $666.3 million to date. Joe Johnston’s poorly received Benicio del Toro-Anthony Hopkins vehicle The Wolfman was #4 with $4 million and a disappointing $35.5 million to date. I say "disappointing" because The Wolfman cost somewhere between $110 and $150 million. And thus far the horror drama hasn't been doing all that great overseas, either.
The previous weekend’s #1 movie, the romantic tearjerker Dear John, was #5. Starring Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried, this tale of two star-crossed lovers earned $2.1 million for a $56 million cume. At #6, Dwayne Johnson’s Tooth Fairy, co-starring Julie Andrews, grossed $1.9 million thanks to kiddie business.
In fact, movies that are supposed to appeal to children fared the best in percentage terms on Monday. In other words, Percy Jackson, Tooth Fairy, and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel had the smallest percentage drops (20-27%) from Sunday. But expect huge drops when Tuesday's box-office figures are announced.
The John Travolta-Jonathan Rhys Meyers vehicle From Paris with Love was #7 with $857K, followed by Mel Gibson’s $80-million revenge thriller Edge of Darkness with $729K (and only $37 million to date), and Jeff Bridges‘ Crazy Heart with $716K and $17.5 million to date. At #10, the Kristen Bell-Josh Duhamel romantic comedy When in Rome took in $595K.
Rounding out the top fifteen were Denzel Washington’s post-apocalyptic drama The Book of Eli ($579K), Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel ($415K), Sandra Bullock’s The Blind Side ($405K), Shahrukh Khan's controversial Bollywood drama/musical My Name Is Khan ($320K and $2,675 per screen, the highest average among the top twenty films) and Robert Downey Jr’s Sherlock Holmes ($295K).
Photos: Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (Doane Gregory / 20th Century Fox)