'Valentine's Day' scores big at Friday box office

Romance rules at the box office...

It's been a great weekend for new releases at the North American box office as "Valentine's Day" scored the No. 1 spot Friday with a solid $14.6 million in ticket sales. The Garry Marshall-helmed romantic comedy is playing at 3,665 locations, making it hard for the competition to catch up.

Boosted by its all-star cast, "Day" follows what happens to several individuals and couples in Los Angeles on Valentine's Day. Critics around the nation slammed it with bad reviews, but the film easily found a large audience to make it to the top.

At No. 2, Universal's "The Wolfman" opened with $9.8 million; another decent start. Joe Johnston's horror flick with Benicio Del Toro is playing at 3,222 locations. Following in third place with $9.7 million was new entry "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief."

Meanwhile, James Cameron's "Avatar" slipped to No. 4, earning another $4.5 million, which is not bad, considering the film has been in release for 57 days. The film reached a domestic total gross of $642.1 million. "Dear John" finished fifth with a daily gross of $4.1 million and a total of $42 million.

"Valentine's Day" will obviously win the weekend, but it will be interesting to see how close "The Wolfman" and "Percy Jackson" will end up. That said, the latter may lose some momentum Sunday, with "Avatar" having a shot at ending the weekend with another solid three-day gross.

Source: Box Office Mojo (www.boxofficemojo.com)