It was a good run, but it had to end some time – James Cameron’s Avatar has finally been deposed from the top of the box office charts after eight weeks. Crippled by the male audience-sucking power of the Superbowl and the romantic lady-wooing charms of Nicholas Sparks, the sci-fi pic fell to Dear John.
Though it faced some bad reviews, Dear John – which sees Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried as a couple trying to stay together over obstacles such as distance and war, the Lasse Hallstrom film took in $32.4 million, making it the highest earning film over a Superbowl weekend. Avatar, meanwhile, dropped to second place with $23.6 million – no shoddy achievement after eight weeks in release.
Third went to John Travolta/Jonathan Rhys Meyers-starring OTT action pic From Paris With Love, which nabbed $8.1 million. That shoved everything else down, with Edge Of Darkness landing in fourth with $7 million and** Tooth Fairy** slumped to fifth and $6.5 million.
The rest of the chart stayed pretty similar, though **Crazy Heart **surged into the top eight thanks to its Oscar nomination cred, helped, no doubt by a healthy expansion from 239 cinemas to 819.