Box Office Guru Wrapup:
Avatar Finally Toppled by
Dear JohnThe "chick flick" steals the #1 spot from James Cameron's
reigning 7-week champ
by
Gitesh Pandya | February 07, 2010
Discuss
Article This weekend in a surprise upset victory, the new
romance saga
Dear
John booted seven-time champ
Avatar from the number one spot at the North American
box office powered by young women chasing after Hollywood hunk Channing Tatum.
John Travolta (the Tatum of the late 1970s) saw his new action thriller
From Paris With
Love bomb settling for third place. Overall ticket sales slipped from
last weekend thanks in part to the Super Bowl distracting millions of Americans.
The young ladies couldn't resist a man in uniform as the soldier story
Dear John surged past industry expectations to capture the top slot at
the multiplexes with an estimated $32.4M opening weekend. Invading 2,969
theaters, the PG-13 drama starring Tatum and Amanda Seyfried averaged a muscular
$10,913 per site. Eager to take credit for the remarkable performance were
Relativity Media which produced and Sony's Screen Gems unit which handled
marketing and distribution duties. It was the biggest opening ever over Super
Bowl weekend beating the $31.1M of the Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus 3D concert
film from two years ago which played in just 683 locations but charged $15 per
ticket for a scorching $45,561 average.
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With Hollywood too busy in recent weeks rolling out
underperforming films from over-50 actors like Travolta, Mel Gibson, and
Harrison Ford, neglected teen girls found in
Dear John the exact type
of entertainment they were looking to pay top dollar for. According to Sony's
research, a whopping 84% of the audience was female while 64% was under 21. The
$25M film opened better than
From Paris With Love,
Edge of Darkness, and
Extraordinary
Measures - combined. John even powered ahead of the $27.8M debut of the
star-studded book-based date flick
He's Just Not That Into You from
exactly one year ago.
Reviews were mostly bad so the studio instead took its case directly to the
customers scheduling many word-of-mouth screenings to build buzz and promoting
the film with the U.S. Army and other military organizations. The lead actors
were also sent to strategic locations for public appearances where,
conveniently, teenage girls went into screaming frenzies.
Dear John benefited from a release date just a week before Valentine's Day and had a
built-in audience of readers of the Nicholas Sparks book. 2004's
The
Notebook, also based on one of his novels, turned into a major sleeper hit
that summer. His next book-turned-movie
The Last Song stars Miley Cyrus
and hits cinemas at the end of next month over Easter weekend opposite the 3D
actioner
Clash of the Titans.
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After its seven-week reign at the top of the box office, James Cameron's
Oscar-nominated juggernaut
Avatar slipped to second place but still
generated a healthy $23.6M, according to estimates. Off 25%, the Fox smash
boosted its domestic haul to $630.1M. It was only the second time in its entire
run that the weekend decline was more than 20%, however much of that was due to
the expected hit Sunday will take because of the Super Bowl. Compared to last
weekend, Friday slipped by 19%, Saturday dipped by 18%, and Sunday is projected
to fall by 39%. For this weekend, the studio is forecasting a rather low 48%
drop from Saturday to Sunday. Most distributors are factoring in declines of
over 60% because of the Big Game.
Overseas,
Avatar grossed an estimated $75M this weekend, down 21%,
lifting the record international tally to $1.58 billion and the global tally to
an eye-popping $2.21 billion. Reaching $2.5 billion should be easy for the 3D
extravaganza.
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Action fans showed little interest in John Travolta's bald head and goatee as
the actor's latest offering
From Paris With Love bowed in third place
with an estimated $8.1M from 2,722 theaters for a weak $2,983 average. The
R-rated espionage thriller was directed by Pierre Morel whose hit thriller Taken
was the big surprise winner over last year's Super Bowl frame. This time,
moviegoers were not excited and mostly avoided the French-set action flick.
Reviews were negative for the Lionsgate release.
Audiences abandoned Mel Gibson as his revenge
thriller
Edge of Darkness tumbled by 59% in its second weekend to an
estimated $7M. After ten days, the Warner Bros. release has collected $29.1M and
is headed for a finish of roughly $45M. On the other hand, Dwayne Johnson's
kidpic
The Tooth
Fairy posted another good hold in its third round dropping 35% to an
estimated $6.5M. Fox's 17-day total stands at $34.3M.
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Falling a steep 55% in its second weekend was the
romantic comedy
When in
Rome which grossed an estimated $5.5M putting the ten-day sum at a
decent $20.9M for Buena Vista. Following in seventh was The Book of Eli with an
estimated $4.8M, off 46%, giving Warner Bros. $82.2M to date.
Fox Searchlight expanded its Oscar contender
Crazy Heart from 239
to 819 theaters and saw ticket sales climb 58% to an estimated $3.7M for an
eighth place finish. Averaging $4,457 per site, the Jeff Bridges starrer scored
three nods for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Song. The film has
already earned many wins in the actor and song categories of other awards
groups. Cume is now $11.2M.
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Sony's supernatural thriller
Legion tumbled 53% to an
estimated $3.4M lifting its cume to $34.7M.
Sherlock Holmes rounded out the top ten
and broke the double century mark in the process. The Robert Downey Jr. pic fell
42% to an estimated $2.6M raising the total to $201.6M. It became the record
tenth release of 2009 to jump the $200M mark. With $242.5M from overseas
markets, the global tally for the Guy Ritchie-directed franchise-starter now
stands at an impressive $444M.
Oscar nominees for Best Picture that are still in theaters benefited from the
higher profile. Witnessing smaller declines than before were
The Blind
Side which dipped 14% to an estimated $2.6M and
Up in the Air which slipped 16% to an estimated $2.4M. Totals are $241.6M and $76.7M,
respectively. Lionsgate's
Precious expanded from 222 to 669 locations
but still struggled with audiences. Despite more than doubling its weekend
gross, the urban drama took in an estimated $435,000 averaging only $650 per
site. Total is $46M.
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The top ten films grossed an estimated $97.6M which was up 2% from last
year's Super Bowl frame when
Taken opened in the top spot with $24.7M;
and up 3% from 2008's football weekend when
Hannah Montana & Miley
Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds 3D debuted at number one with $31.1M. The game
fell one week earlier on the calendar during those two years.
Author: Gitseh Pandya,
Box Office Guru!
