Valentine's Day: Jennifer Garner, Jessica Biel (top); Jamie Foxx, Ashton Kutcher (middle); Patrick Dempsey (bottom)
Garry Marshall’s new romantic comedy Valentine’s Day stormed to the top of the North American box office this weekend with an impressive $52.4 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday. The Warner Bros. title landed a superb average of $14,300 per theater at 3,665 locations, making it impossible for its competition to catch up. Despite negative reviews, the film largely benefited from its gigantic all-star cast, which includes Julia Roberts, Bradley Cooper, Taylor Lautner, Shirley MacLaine, Anne Hathaway, Topher Grace, and Taylor Swift.
New entries The Wolfman and Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief battled it out for second place, but the latter prevailed according to early estimates, scoring $31.1 million from ticket sales at 3,356 locations.
Following closely in third place with $30 million was The Wolfman, directed by Joe Johnston and starring Benicio del Toro and Anthony Hopkins. The horror flick scored an average of $9,506 per theater at 3,222 locations.
Meanwhile, James Cameron’s sci-fi epic Avatar, starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, and Sigourney Weaver, delivered another great weekend run in fourth place, generating a surprising $22 million for a total gross of $659.6 million after nine weeks in release.
Dear John took the biggest dive this weekend, dropping four spots and finishing fifth with a three-day gross of $15.3 million. Domestically, the romantic drama starring Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried brought its total to $53.1 million after ten days in release.
At No. 6, Dwayne Johnson's Tooth Fairy collected another $5.6 million, bringing its cumulative gross to $41.5 million. Following in seventh place with $4.7 million was Pierre Morel’s From Paris with Love, starring John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers, which reached $15.8 million.
Mel Gibson's comeback vehicle Edge of Darkness slipped to No. 8 with $4.5 million for a cume of $36 million, while Scott Cooper's Crazy Heart, starring best actor Oscar nominee Jeff Bridges, bagged $4 million, enough for ninth place (total: $16.5 million).
Rounding out the top 10 this weekend was When in Rome, with Josh Duhamel and Kristen Bell, which picked up $3.4 million and lifted its total gross to $26 million after a mediocre two-week run.
Source: Box Office Mojo (www.boxofficemojo.com)
Photos: Valentine's Day (Ron Batzdorff / Warner Bros.)
“Valentine’s day” proved the formula was right. One of components – as many stars as possible (EIGHTEEN this time) and another ones not less "artful"…
Yeah it's not surprising that Valentines Day rushed to the top on Valentines Day, even if the film was dire (i dunno, i haven't seen it, but the reviews aren't exactly glowing) with a marketing ploy and release timing as it had, you'd expect it to be top.
How many stars do they need to carry a movie nowadays?