It’s a miracle! After Avatar’s seemingly never-ending, record-breaking run at the top of the US box office, this weekend a movie has come along that’s finally been able to unseat it from the number 1 spot. Not that Avatar will be crying, as taking $23 million in its eighth week is still remarkable.
However this weekend’s top honours went to Dear John, the adaptation of Nicholas Sparks romantic novel about a soldier and the girl waiting for him back home, starring Amanda Seyfried and Channing Tatum. The film took $32 million in its first three day, which is very good for a film of this nature. It also goes to show that Superbowl weekend is a good time to release films aimed at women.
The only other new release in the top 10 was From Paris With Love, the OTT action movie starring John Travolta. The film took a slightly tepid $8 million for a third place finish, which certainly won’t be helped by the big game on Sunday.
Elsewhere, Crazy Heart made its first showing in the top 10 at number eight after eight weeks of release. The film more than tripled its theatre count over the weekend and was no doubt helped by Jeff Bridges’ Oscar nomination last Tuesday.
Take a look below for the full US top 10 for the weekend of February 5th-7th.
| Rank | Title | Weekend Gross (millions) | Total Gross to date (millions) |
| 1 | Dear John | $32.4 | $32.4 |
| 2 | Avatar | $23.6 | $630.0 |
| 3 | From Paris In Love | $8.1 | $8.1 |
| 4 | Edge Of Darkness | $7.0 | $29.0 |
| 5 | The Tooth Fairy | $6.5 | $34.3 |
| 6 | When In Rome | $5.5 | $20.9 |
| 7 | The Book Of Eli | $4.8 | $82.1 |
| 8 | Crazy Heart | $3.6 | $11.1 |
| 9 | Legion | $3.4 | $34.6 |
| 10 | Sherlock Holmes | $2.6 | $201.5 |