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Box Office: 'Dear John' Steals 'Avatar's' Thunder
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On Friday we, asked MovieWatchers to weigh in with your predictions for the box office leader board this weekend. About 63% of you predicted that "Avatar" would continue its reign at the top of the box office but a savvy 28% thought that maybe, just maybe, the love story "Dear John" would finally unseat the box office titan. To those 28%, we say: Kudos!
After eight weeks on top, more than $2 billion earned worldwide and more than $600 million in domestic ticket sales, "Avatar" has finally ceded its spot at the top of the charts to an adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks book, proving once again that film studios should never count out the female segment of the movie going public. The SonyScreen Gems production took in $32.4 million over the weekend, solidly beating "Avatar." In fact the film is now the highest grossing film to ever open over Super Bowl weekend!
More than 84% of the audience for "Dear John" was female. To open a film like this on such a sports-heavy weekend was a sign of shrewd planning on the part of Sony and it clearly paid off in a big way.
Even if it didn't win the weekend box office crown, "Avatar" still managed to pull in a very solid $23.6 million in its eight week in release. When you consider that that's still nearly 3x the total that the other big wide release film, "From Paris With Love," it is clear this film still has legs.
Here's your Box Office Top 10:
- "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" -- $3.6 million -- "Crazy Heart" got a great post-Oscar nomination boost as it expanded to 800 screens.
- "Legion" -- $3.4 million
- "Sherlock Holmes" -- $2.6 million -- The Guy Ritchie directed film crossed the $200 million domestic mark!
Sources: Variety and Deadline
