'Dear John' ousts 'Avatar' from top spot

By Sarah Sluis

Dear John opened to an impressive $32.4 million over the Super Bowl weekend. The debut marks the highest opening for a Nicolas Sparks adaptation. His sentimental romances combine the heartland appeal of a movie like The Blind Side with the fangirl interest seen in successes like Twilight. Perception of quality, too, influenced its box office. While critics called out the film for its sentimentality and heavy-handedness, its 30% rating at Rotten Tomatoes means it's not terrible. Last year over Super Bowl weekend, older-skewing and poorly reviewed romantic comedy New in Town opened to only $6.7 million, so watch-ability makes a difference. Provided that the largely female audience isn't worn out by the genre, the high opening bodes well for the The Last Song, a Nicolas Sparks adaptation starting Miley Cyrus that opens March 31st.

Avatar came in about $10 million lower than Dear John, even with nine Oscar nominations singing its praises. However, with a small drop of 24% from last week, this movie is still in for the long haul. As its gross continues to dip below the $23.6 million it earned this week, it will be beaten by other promising films' opening weekends.

From Paris with Love didn't get much action, with just $8.1 million in its opening weekend. The movie did more business Saturday than Friday, indicating a lack of anticipation and an older-skewing audience less likely to join the packs of teenagers in theatres Friday night.

Many of the Oscar-nominated films expanded their runs over the weekend, rising 50-600% from the previous week. With a Best Actor nomination for Jeff Bridges (who I will always love as "The Dude"), Crazy Heart broke into the top ten with a $3.6 million gross that grabbed eighth place. Since the movie is a relative newcomer with just eight weeks in release, it increased just 58%, much smaller than its peers that have been out for several months.

An Education (18 weeks in release) increased 668% from last week to bring in $915,000. The Last Station, which received nominations for Best Actress (Helen Mirren) and Best Supporting Actor (Christopher Plummer), increased 337% to $371,000. Precious tripled the number of theatres in its release for an increase of 104% from last week, $440,000. The Messenger, which also received a Best Supporting Actor nomination (Woody Harrelson), went up 14% for a tiny $20,500 gross. Colin Firth's Best Actor nomination led to a 14% bump for A Single Man, which earned $631,000. The White Ribbon, a nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, rose12%to $132,000.

This weekend, Valentine's Day meets the three-day President's Day weekend, and aptly titled Valentine's Day, kid-actioner Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief, and The Wolfman will all vie for the box-office crown.