‘Dear John’ beats ‘Avatar’ at box office
By IANSMonday, February 8, 2010
LONDON - After seven weeks and over $630 million, the “Avatar” magic at the box office is over; it has been knocked over by romantic movie “Dear John” that has Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfriend in lead roles.
According to imdb.com, “Dear John”, Hollywood’s fifth adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ novel, proved to be a far more formidable opponent than anyone expected, bringing in an estimated $32.4 million its 2,969 locations. That’s a per-screen average of $10,900 - good enough to help “Dear John” become the all-time domestic box office champ for a Super Bowl weekend release.
“Avatar” probably hasn’t fared badly this weekend. On Tuesday, the film crossed the final achievement off of its box office to-do list, replacing “Titanic” as the all-time leader at the domestic box office with an astounding $601 million earned in just 47 days.
It took “Titanic” more than 250 days to reach its domestic high of $600.8 million back in 1998 - though when inflation, higher 3D ticket prices and estimated theatre attendance is factored in, “Titanic” still looks pretty unsinkable.
