Finally, “Avatar” was defeated at the box office this weekend by “Dear John.” A sci-fi love story has given way to an earthbound romance at the weekend box office. “Dear John” debuted as the No. 1 movie with $32.4 million, knocking off the blockbuster “Avatar” after seven weekends in first place.
Adapted from Nicholas Sparks’ novel, “Dear John” stars Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried in a long-distance love story between a soldier and his sweetheart back home.
Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box-office division of Hollywood.com, said via email that “Avatar” was “knocked off its perch by the power of female audiences at the box-office.” He added that “Believe it or not, New Line’s ‘Lost in Space’ took the top spot away from ‘Titanic’ back in 1998.” “Titantic” had spent fifteen weeks at number one.
“Avatar” slipped to No. 2 with $23.6 million, raising its domestic total to $630.1 million. Directed by James Cameron, “Avatar” surpassed his own “Titanic,” which had held the domestic revenue record at $600.8 million.
With a record $2.2 billion worldwide, “Avatar” also soared past the $1.8 billion “Titanic” took in globally.
Take a look at the Top 10 Box Office Rankings in North America for this week:
1 (*) Dear John – $32.4 million
2 (1) Avatar – $23.6 million
3 (*) From Paris With Love – $ 8.1 million
4 (2) Edge of Darkness – $ 7.0 million
5 (4) The Tooth Fairy – $ 6.5 million
6 (3) When in Rome – $ 5.5 million
7 (5) The Book of Eli – $ 4.8 million
8 (14) Crazy Heart – $ 3.7 million
9 (6) Legion – $ 3.4 million
10 (8) Sherlock Holmes – $ 2.6 million
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February 7th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
Dear John is an experimental film and it certainly would surprose people that a poignant love story would make a killing at the box office.