‘Dear John’ Dethrones ‘Avatar’ In The Saturday Box Office Report
1. “Dear John” ($13.8 million)
2. “Avatar” ($6.1 million)
3. “From Paris With Love” ($3 million)
4. “Edge of Darkness” ($2.3 million)
5. “When in Rome” ($2 million)
After seven straight weekend victories, is it possible that “Avatar” is finally about to fall to a romantic comedy? That’s certainly how the weekend is shaping after “Dear John,” Sony-Screen Gems’ adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ romance novel starring Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried, took first place on Friday night with $13.8 million.
No matter how the remainder of the weekend plays out, the opening day for “Dear John” already marks a new record for films based on Sparks’ novels, as “The Notebook” and “Nights in Rodanthe” took little more than $13 million in their opening weekends.
The movie’s Friday victory over “Avatar” was undoubtedly helped by the upcoming arrival of the Super Bowl, resulting in a weekend where action-oriented moviegoers typically stay at home to prepare for the major football event. But even after losing to “Dear John,” James Cameron’s science fiction epic has already cleared almost every box office record imaginable at this point, so a fall from first place isn’t exactly a catastrophe.
Friday’s third place slot went to newcomer “From Paris With Love,” the John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers action film from “Taken” director Pierre Morel. “Edge of Darkness” took a 59% dive from last weekend with a $2.3 million fourth place finish. Rounding out the top five was “When in Rome,” which followed Mel Gibson’s example for a 54% drop from its debut last weekend.
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