Box Office: 'Valentine's Day' takes the crown

Weekend of February 12 – 14, 2010: 'Valentine's Day' shows no love for competition

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 critic’ reviews, the film largely benefited from its gigantic all-star cast.

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 Universal’s “The Wolfman,” the Joe Johnston-directed horror flick starring Benicio Del Toro and Anthony Hopkins. The film scored an average of $9,506 per theater at 3,222 locations.

Meanwhile, James Cameron’s sci-fi epic “Avatar” delivered another great weekend run in fourth place, generating a surprisingly solid $22 million for an impressive 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 brought its total to $53.1 million after more than one week in release.

At No. 6, “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,” which reached $15.8 million.

“Edge of Darkness” slipped to No. 8 with $4.5 million for a cume of $36 million, while “Crazy Heart” bagged $4 million, enough for ninth place (total stands at $16.5 million.

Rounding out the top 10 this weekend was “When in Rome,” 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)