Box Office: 'Dear John' wins race with $32M

Weekend of February 5 – 7, 2010: 'Avatar' reign ends; 'Dear John' prevails

Screen Gems’ romance drama “Dear John” dethroned James Cameron’s “Avatar” at the North American box office this weekend with a surprisingly solid $32.4 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Lasse Hallstrom’s big-screen adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks novel scored an average of  $10,913 per theater at 2,969 locations, enough to end the impressive winning streak of Cameron’s hit epic “Avatar.”

At No. 2, “Avatar” bagged another $23.6 million from ticket sales at 3,000 locations, a solid weekend gross after eight weeks in release. Domestically, Fox’s sci-fi hit flick has reached a cumulative gross of $630 million.

New entry “From Paris with Love” generated $8.1 million in third place. Pierre Morel’s thriller with John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers is playing at 2,722 locations and scored a mediocre average of  $2,983 per theater.

Meanwhile, Mel Gibson’s revenge flick “Edge of Darkness” collected $7 million at No. 4, lifting its total gross to $29 million. Following in fifth place with $6.5 million was “Tooth Fairy,” which brought its total haul to $34.3 million.

At No. 6, “When in Rome” picked up $5.5 million for a cume of $20.8 million, while “The Book of Eli” reached a domestic total of $82.1 million after weekend earnings of $4.8 million.

Breaking into the top 10 this weekend was “Crazy Heart,” which Fox Searchlight expanded to 819 theaters following Jeff Bridges’ Oscar nomination. “Heart” bagged $3.6 million in eighth place, reaching a total of $11.1 million.

“Legion” slipped to No. 9 with a three-day gross of $3.4 million and a cumulative gross of $34.6 million. Rounding out the top 10 with 2.6 million was “Sherlock Holmes,” which brought its total gross to $201.5 million.

Next week’s box office race will be quite an interesting one to follow, as three wide release will hit theaters and take aim at the current chart leaders. Opening are “The Wolfman,” “Valentine’s Day” and “Percy Jackson.

I think it’s safe to say “Avatar” won’t be able to make it back to No. 1 with this lineup. Still, Cameron’s flick had a fantastic seven-week run, and it will be quite a while until we’ll see a blockbuster perform that well.

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