Bradley Cooper, Julia Roberts in Valentine's Day
From #2 to #4: That's Avatar at the North American box office this weekend, according to early Friday (Feb. 12) estimates found at Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood. Even so, James Cameron's 3D sci-fier grossed an estimated $4.8 million on Friday and may top $24 million on its ninth weekend (I'm assuming that includes Monday, President's Day). Last weekend, Avatar grossed about $22 million, falling behind new entry Dear John.
The #1 movie on Friday was, as expected, the all-star Valentine's Day, with $16.5 million. Garry Marshall's romantic comedy-drama is expected to gross a total of $60 million over the four-day weekend. Julia Roberts, Ashton Kutcher, Jessica Alba, Anne Hathaway, Taylor Lautner, Shirley MacLaine, Bradley Cooper, Topher Grace, and Taylor Swift are a few of the stars found in the film.
Following in second place were both Chris Columbus' Percy Jackson & The Olympians and the Benicio del Toro vehicle The Wolfman with $10.5 million each. Dear John, starring Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried, was #5 with $4.5m — or only $300K behind Avatar.
Photo: Valentine's Day (Ron Batzdorff / Warner Bros.)