I Can’t Believe It Was ‘Dear John’ That Took Down ‘Avatar’
Published by Seth Quillen in: Film -- Date: 8 Feb 2010 Comments: 0
Source: Box Office Mojo,
While Dear John broke up Avatar‘s box office reign at No. 1, both pictures performed extremely well over Super Bowl weekend. Dear John drew $30.5 million, ranking as the second highest-grossing Super Bowl opening gross ever behind the Hannah Montana concert, while Avatar raked in another $22.9 million.
Playing on approximately 3,500 screens at 2,969 sites, Dear John’s opening was way above the norm for a romantic drama, and it came close to doubling the estimated initial attendance of previous Nicholas Sparks adaptations The Notebook and A Walk to Remember. The Notebook went on to build a big audience, and Dear John’s marketing capitalized on the connection. With the exception of Taken last year, the movies that open well on Super Bowl weekend tend to appeal to females, such as romances (She’s All That) and horror movies (When a Stranger Calls). Tellingly, distributor Sony Pictures reported that Dear John’s audience breakdown was 84 percent female and 64 percent under 21 years old. Dear John was the first romantic drama event since The Twilight Saga: New Moon, which carried Dear John’s lush trailer, featured rising and relatable leads Amanda Seyfried (Mamma Mia!) and Channing Tatum (Step Up) and was well timed with the Valentine’s Day holiday.
Though the headlines reverberating throughout the media are that Dear John has defeated Avatar, the truth is this isn’t like the New Orleans Saints beating the Indianapolis Colts in the Super Bowl. This was Avatar‘s eighth weekend and Dear John’s first, after all, and in no way a sign in and of itself that Avatar is waning. It’s far more common for a picture to be a one weekend wonder than to start big and see minimal drop-offs weekend after weekend. Avatar‘s 27 percent decline was its steepest yet, but small nonetheless (even if the impact of Super Bowl Sunday isn’t considered), and its total stands at a whopping $629.3 million in 52 days. A smidgen behind Titanic‘s $23 million, Avatar had the second highest-grossing eighth weekend gross ever, though Titanic‘s attendance was far greater at that point.
At the foreign box office, Avatar raked in $79.3 million, down 17 percent from last weekend, and its total grew to $1.58 billion, pushing its worldwide haul past $2.2 billion. Italy was Avatar‘s top-grossing market over the weekend with $8.5 million ($69.6 million total), followed by Germany with $8.3 million ($117.7 million total) and China with $7.8 million. China surpassed France as Avatar’s top-grossing market with $144.6 million. Avatar also set industry gross highs (in local currency) in the United Kingdom, Brazil and Taiwan, and it crossed the $100 million mark in Japan.
