The winner
Avatar knocked off top spot scandal! After seven weekends of continuous rule, Fox and James Cameron's king of the world was reduced to the role of mere commoner at the US box office. The culprit – or saviour, depending on your view on these matters – was a romance called Dear John, which debuted in first place on an estimated $32.4m through Screen Gems.
Channing Tatum, whom you may have seen in the fight club drama Fighting and should be destined for greatness, appears opposite Amanda Seyfried from Mamma Mia. The film was adapted from a Nicholas Sparks novel, which possibly explains how it managed to open at number one over Fox's intimate sci-fi drama. It was Sparks, you may recall, who wrote The Notebook, which New Line turned into a movie back in 2004 and made more than $115m worldwide with it.
The loser
Lionsgate opened the action thriller From Paris With Love with John Travolta as a crazed special ops chap in France and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers tagging along for the ride. It comes from Luc Besson's French powerhouse EuropaCorp – the same team behind the global smash Taken – but failed to make the same impression, at least in its first weekend. Opening in third, From Paris with Love debuted on $8.1m.
Taken was a key driver in Hollywood's first ever $1bn January last year when it launched on $24.7m. The Liam Neeson starrer finished on $145m and From Paris With Love will be lucky to take $50m at this rate. Oh it's a brutal business, this box office.
Speaking of which, Mel Gibson's comeback is going away after barely 10 days in the US charts. The dreary and predictable Edge of Darkness faded 59% and fell two places to fourth on a little over $7m to give us $29.1m after two weekends. That is not the stuff of comebacks. Perhaps he should have a word with his press handlers and make a better impression in TV interviews.
Perhaps he should simply get involved with better movies. The Beaver might be such a project. Gibson plays a frazzled toy company CEO who communicates through a beaver hand puppet. The script is bizarre but pretty captivating, so if director Jodie Foster (Gibson's Maverick co-star who reunites with him on screen here) has executed well it could be interesting. There isn't a release date yet from Summit Entertainment, but I wouldn't rule out a Cannes world premiere berth.
The real story
Everybody's going 3D crazy. Last week Warner Bros announced it would
release Clash of the Titans on 3D in April, adding that it would give the same treatment later in the year to summer release Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, Zack Snyder's Guardians of Ga'Hoole, and Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore. Then Universal weighed in on Friday, announcing it would release its 2012 Taylor Lautner release Stretch Armstrong (based on the Hasbro action figure!) in 3D, and Screen Gems piped up on the same day to reveal it would do the same with its supernatural thriller Priest.
DreamWorks Animation announced a long time ago that all its future releases would be in 3D. It has four films out this year, a huge slate for animation, including the latest Shrek tale. Let's not forget Disney, which is doing the same with Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland and Tron Legacy, among others. Sony has 3D titles in the works too, as does pretty much everybody in Hollywood these days. I'm not really going anywhere with this other than to say that it's all well and good chucking technology at a movie, but, in the words of Jon Landau, Cameron's producing partner on Avatar and Titanic, the 3D has to serve the story otherwise audiences will lose interest.
The future
Next weekend offers a juicy concoction, with plenty at stake for the studios involved. Can Fox extend their astonishing recent run of form with Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, its big potential children's fantasy franchise that, all being well, will outlive Harry Potter and become the new must-see for 12-year-olds and their parents? Uma Thurman and Pierce Brosnan star. Warner Bros' romantic comedy Valentine's Day has possibly the biggest ensemble cast in history – Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel and Brad Cooper to name merely three – and could make a killing with the date crowd. Finally Universal top brass will be looking to sink their claws into the box-office pie as long gestating horror tale The Wolfman finally arrives. It stars Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins and Emily Blunt.
North American top 10, 5-7 February 2010
1. Dear John, $32.4m
2. Avatar, $23.6m. Total: $630.1m
3. From Paris With Love, $8.1m
4. Edge of Darkness, $17.1m. Total: $29.1m
5. Tooth Fairy, $6.5m. Total: $34.3m
6. When in Rome, $5.5m Total: $20.9
7. The Book of Eli, $4.8m. Total: $82.2m
8. Crazy Heart, $3.7m. Total: $11.2m
9. Legion, $3.4m. Total: $34.7m
10. Sherlock Holmes, $2.6m. Total: $201.6m
