Screen GemsUPDATE: Final numbers on Monday show Dear John grossed $30.5 million over the weekend, down nearly $2 million from estimates, and not enough to set a new Super Bowl weekend record. Avatar's final number slipped to $22.9 million, as the big game sacked movie theaters.
________
Down goes Avatar!
The Channing Tatum-Amanda Seyfried romantic drama Dear John unseated James Cameron's record-busting blockbuster at the box office, with a far-bigger-than-expected $32.4 million Friday-Sunday take, per estimates.
Avatar, which saw its weekend winning streak end at seven, didn't get knocked out cold. It gobbled up another $23.6 million, and upped its all-time domestic haul to $630.1 million.
More on the weekend that was:
• The $34 million Dear John was projected to open with a solid $20 million or so. But the Twilight army mobilized, and the movie ended up setting a new record for a Super Bowl weekend debut.
• Forgive boys if they have no idea what just beat Avatar: More than 80 percent of Dear John's ticket buyers were females. (More than 60 percent were under age 21.)
• Movie stars who couldn't do what Tatum and Seyfried did, i.e., defeat Avatar: Mel Gibson (Edge of Darkness), Robert Downey Jr. (Sherlock Holmes), Denzel Washington (The Book of Eli) and Meryl Streep (It's Complicated), among others.
• The John Travolta thriller From Paris with Love wasn't expected to dethrone Avatar, but it wasn't expected to open with only $8.1 million, either.
• Jeff Bridges' Crazy Heart ($3.7 million; $11.2 million overall) got more theaters, and a bounce from the Oscar nominations. George Clooney's Up in the Air ($2.4 million; $76.7 million) got more theaters, but no bounce. Sandra Bullock's The Blind Side ($2.6 million) lost theaters and steam, finally tuckered out after a stunning $241.6 million run.
• The final verdict on Top 10 evictees It's Complicated, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, and The Lovely Bones: hit; big-fat hit; and big-fat miss that still hasn't matched its $65 million budget worldwide, respectively.
Here's a rundown of the weekend's top-grossing films, per estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations:
- Dear John, $32.4 million
- Avatar, $23.6 million
- From Paris with Love, $8.1 million
- Edge of Darkness, $7 million
- The Tooth Fairy, $6.5 million
- When in Rome, $5.5 million
- The Book of Eli, $4.8 million
- Crazy Heart, $3.7 million
- Legion, $3.4 million
- Sherlock Holmes, $2.6 million
(Originally published Feb. 7, 2010, at 9:19 a.m. PT)
______________
Avatar may yet rule again at the Academy Awards. Check out all the contenders in our 2010 Oscars: Notable Nominees gallery.