Box Office Update 2/5-2/7: Avatar Defeated by Dear John

After two weeks of thinking it out loud, I have a new number one to talk about. Now, I have to go back on my word a little bit — I was not so tired of Avatar that I wanted to talk about Dear John, but here we are. There is no way I would have guessed that this would be the movie to take the top spot. It actually makes me a little sad. Why? Well, I have not seen it and cannot speak definitively but I had hoped that the usurper would be a well received one. I did not expect a so-called "chick flick" to be the one to do it. It now can go into the history books alongside Lost in Space as the film to knock James Cameron's history-making effort out of the number one slot.

Going into the weekend I felt pretty sure that Avatar was going to cruise to its eighth weekend victory. There was no way I thought a Nicholas Sparks adaptation would climb so high as to knock it out of its perch. Obviously I was wrong. The romance starring Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried opened to tepid reviews but struck a chord with audiences, pushing it past the $32 million mark.

Coming in second place, the lowest place in its run, is Avatar. On the plus side, the film has cruised past Titanic and is now the top grossing film of all time internationally and domestically. The question now that it is on top is how high will it go? Some say it could top $750 million. Unbelievable no matter how you look at it.

Coming in a distant third place is the John Travolta action film, From Paris with Love. I am rather surprised at how low it placed in its debut frame. The trailers made it seem a lot of fun and would seem to be a shoo-in to draw a crowd. I guess I was wrong. The Pierre Morel-directed feature limped past the $8 million mark and will not likely be a long-term fixture in the top ten.

Move down the list a little and you will find Crazy Heart. The Oscar-nominated Jeff Bridges film is finally going wide in its eighth week of release. That's right, it began its run opposite Avatar. How funny would it have been if this was the movie that had taken it down? All right, not really. The film is really quite good and Jeff Bridges turns in a stunning performance.

Article Author: Chris Beaumont

Christopher Beaumont spends much of his time writing about music and movies when he isn't indulging in them. He is always ready to talk about his favorite form of entertainment and offer up recommendations. Follow: Twitter and Tumblr. Visit: Critical Outcast. …

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