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.

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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.

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'Dear John' dethrones 'Avatar' Friday!

Could the box office reign of "Avatar" come to an end this weekend? Looking at the estimated numbers for Friday, it sure could, because "Dear John" opened with a surprisingly strong $13.8 million in first place.

Lasse Hallström's big-screen adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks novel scored a solid average of $4,648 per theater at 2,969 locations. The romance drama stars Amanda Seyfried and Channing Tatum.

James Cameron's "Avatar" took a dive and landed at No. 2 Friday, earning $6.2 million ($612 million total). Considering it's half of what "Dear John" made, it will be hard for the sci-fi flick to regain momentum.

Also opening Friday was Pierre Morel's thriller "From Paris with Love," which scored $3 million from ticket sales at 2,722 locations. Lionsgate's flick stars John Travolta as an agent trying to stop a terrorist attack.

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Movie Review: “From Paris with Love”

Seen on: February 2, 2010

The players: Director: Pierre Morel, Writer: Adi Hasak, Cast: John Travolta, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Kasia Smutniak, Richard Durden

Facts of interest: Pierre Morel also directed "Taken."

The plot: A Paris-based agent teams up with a badass U.S. agent to stop a terrorist attack planned on French soil.

Our thoughts: Following his surprise hit “Taken,” Pierre Morel returns to the big screen with “From Paris with Love.” Don’t be fooled by the title though, because this is not a romantic story set in the city of love. On the contrary, this film is an outrageously ridiculous and yet quite entertaining action comedy filled with stupid action, bad dialogue and a totally crazy performance by John Travolta.

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'Avatar' sinks 'Titanic' domestically, advances to $603M gross!

James Cameron is the king of the worldwide box office, for sure. His sci-fi epic "Avatar" raced past his own "Titanic" domestically Tuesday, lifting its total gross to $601.1 million after only 47 days in release.

"Avatar" took another $2.6 million Wednesday, reaching a total of $603.7 million. The film is on track to deliver another solid weekend. Competing against Fox's flick are "From Paris with Love" and "Dear John."

To be honest, I can see "Avatar" take the crown yet again, although I 'm, sure "Dear John" will find its audience as well. I also admit I am quite interested to follow how far "Avatar" will actually go.

"Avatar" is now the highest-grossing film of all time, without the adjustion for inflation, of course. Estimates  also suggest 60.7 million "Avatar" tickets have been sold since the film's Dec. 18, 2009 release.

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

This week's new movie releases - Feb. 5, 2010

Opening this week are Lasse Hallström's romantic drama "Dear John" with Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried, and Pierre Morel's action thriller "From Paris with Love" with John Travolta.

DEAR JOHN (with Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried)

Synopsis: The film tells story of John Tyree (Channing Tatum), a young soldier home on leave, and Savannah Curtis (Amanda Seyfried), the idealistic college student he falls in love with during her spring vacation. Over the next seven tumultuous years, the couple is separated by John's increasingly dangerous deployments.

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New 'From Paris With Love' trailer so-so

Trailer for Morel's next ain't that cool

Pierre Morel's "Taken" stormed the box office by surprise last year and even brought in some positive reviews. I enjoyed the film as well, even though it ranks as one of the most over-the-top thrillers I've ever seen. Still, it was silly fun to watch.

Now Morel has a new film coming out, and it's titled "From Paris With Love." Sadly, it looks terrible, even though the cast includes John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. A new trailer has popped up online, and you can check it out below.

Based on a script by Luc Besson and Adi Hasak, the film centers on an embassy worker who encounters an American secret agent during a risky mission in the French capital. As you can see in the preview, it's all boom and bang.

Boom and bang can be fun, sure, but not when Travolta looks this ridiculous. I'm sure he had tons of fun playing the bad-ass American who kicks everybody's ass and blows shit up with a giant bazooka, but something about this just doesn't feel awesome.

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Stallone's 'The Expendables' gets release date

Sylvester and co. will blow up things and shoot bad guys in 2010.

According to ERC Box Office, Lionsgate plans to release Sly's upcoming action flick "The Expendables" April 23, 2010.

Written by Stallone, the movie follows a group of mercenaries who infiltrate a South American country to overthrow its dictator and free the population.

Sly himself, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts and Mickey Rourke star, while Arnold Schwartzenegger will deliver a cameo.

Another date Lionsgate has set is for Pierre Morel's "From Paris with Love," which will open Feb. 19, 2010. John Travolta and Jonathan Ryhs Meyers star.

Bloody set pics for 'From Paris With Love'

Pierre Morel's latest thriller "From Paris with Love" is still shooting, and the Bad and Ugly recently got a hold of new images of John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers from the set.

As you can see above, Meyers looks bloody and Travolta looks... scary (sort of). Based on a script by Luc Besson and Adi Hasak, the film centers on an embassy worker who encounters an American secret agent during a risky mission in the French capital.

Production for the film halted two months ago because members of the production team found ten cars belonging to Europacorp burned out by arsonists, but it looks like everything is back to normal.

Anyway, check out one still above and click here if you want to see some more.

‘From Paris With Love’ stops shooting

Filming for Pierre Morel’s upcoming thriller “From Paris With Love” has been officially suspended, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Principal photography was shot down in a Parisian neighborhood when members of the production team found ten cars belonging to Europacorp burned out by arsonists.

Based on a script by Luc Besson and Adi Hasak, the film centers on an embassy worker who encounters an American secret agent during a risky mission in the French capital.

John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers were on location for the shoot of the project, which is produced on a $55 million budget.

According to the trade, Europacorp said only that filming of the housing project scenes is suspended pending a review.

This is sad to hear, but not surprising. After all, Paris the world capital for burned out cars by random idiots who don’t have anything better to do.