Warner Bros. sure did give couples an easy fix for their February holiday. Valentine’s Day took in approximately $67 million over the four-day frame, grossing an estimated $21 million on the actual day itself. The romantic comedy’s success practically greenlights Warner Bros. next attempt at a holiday-themed ensemble comedy, New Year’s Eve, which they are contemplating putting into production immediately. The weekend was also a boon for the family literary adaptation. While there didn’t seem to be much heat on Percy Jackson & the Olympians going into the weekend, moviegoers still showed up in droves. The PG-rated film, from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone director Chris Columbus, grossed an estimated $39 million for a second place finish. It outshone Universal’s R-rated Wolfman, which also had an auspicious beginning of $36 million for the four-day frame. Early rumblings of a troubled post-production and a delayed release date did little to quell moviegoers’ anticipation for the horror classic starring Benicio del Toro, Anthony Hopkins and Emily Blunt.
The three new wide releases coupled with an astounding $30 million for Avatar and $19 million for the romantic drama Dear John put the President’s Day holiday cume into record-breaking territory. Rounding out the top ten were The Tooth Fairy earning an additional $7.7 million to put its total take at $43.6 million; From Paris With Love grossing $6.8 million for the seventh slot and a total two-week earning of $18 million. Mel Gibson’s film Edge of Darkness grossed $5.7 million to put its three-week total at $37 million. Ninth spot went to the Jeff Bridges-starrer Crazy Heart which grossed an additional $4.2 million during its second weekend in wide release. The indie drama’s total take now stands at $17.5 million. The Book of Eli took the tenth spot grossing $3.6 million more for a total gross of $88 million.
If the numbers stay as estimated, the weekend will likely bring in over $220 million for the holiday, the most ever for President’s Day. And the new releases should hold up well next frame when the only new entry is Martin Scorsese’s long-awaited thriller Shutter Island. It will surely bite into Wolfman’s earnings, but the other two films should be able to hold in strong. Enjoy the holiday folks. See you next weekend.
I didn’t make it to the theaters this weekend, but I really want to see The Wolfman and Percy Jackson even though they both got bad reviews on rotten tomatoes.
WOW Avatar is just killing it…too bad people aren’t paying that money for the poor people in Haiti instead of seeing that crap Valentine’s Day movie.
WOW, if only the people would send their money to Haiti instead of shelling out 16 bucks to watch Avatar in 3D…
two can play that game
i am sick of hearing about haiti
?):PPPPP has no HEART.
I’m with you Nerwen!
Valentines Day was really good. You should try it!
wow you should really put your foot in your mouth, i went and saw valentines day today and loved it and i also donate $50 to haiti, i believe thats enough for 5 tickets to the movies, see we can do both
@Nerwen da moron. Avatar was made for 3-d toolbox. Who in there right mind would see it in a regular theater. It was shot and made for 3-D. factor in my finger, now go sit and spin.
Percy Jackson is a fantastic movie, the best of the year so far, in my opinion.
Wolfman is just terrible, though. Nothing redeeming about it. It’s so corny and campy (which makes it enjoyable on a so-bad-it’s-good level, I suppose).
Are you kidding me? I could list all of the plot holes in that movie. The only scene I enjoyed was when they got high in the casino. That’s it, oh and I guess Rosario Dawson. It was mediocre, I had fun, but no way in hell is it the best of the year so far. Even in your opinion
i really enjoyed Wolfman. I thought it was great!!
wow! avatar still rocks. I saw wolfman. It was great
Good for Avatar and Crazy Heart… boo for the slew of awful movies that did well.
I’m just hoping the reign of Avatar has ended. I don’t care how good of a movie it is, I am so sick of blue aliens that I might just kill a smurf
Now you know how a lot of us feel about Twilight. What goes around comes around.
LOL I’m a Twilight fan and even I was sick of all of the New Moon coverage towards the end. Glad to see EW has toned it down for now. Of course when it gets closer to Eclipse…
Avatar is the highest grossing movie of all time and is nominated for 9 oscars. New Moon is neither yet it still gets alot of coverage. Avatar actually deserves it, whereas NM doesn’t.
I’m not going to argue with you and say that New Moon deserves an Oscar because it does not and I never ever compared it to such. I’m just saying that I haven’t been able to go a day since November without seeing about 5 articles on Avatar and I’m kind of sick of it.
As for Avatar being the highest grossing movie of all time, that is truly a decieving title. Of money, sure that is undisputed but you need to factor in inflation, the price of regular ticket prices, and the prce of 3D ticket prices. From that standpoint I’m not even sure if Avatar is in the top ten. If you truly want to go to the bestselling movie of all time…that title belongs with a little classic called Gone With the Wind.
If Avatar wasn’t in 3D it would NOT have made near as much money. It has been out for 9 weeks and I can’t find a theater within 50 miles playing it with only one exception, 3D theaters don’t have much choice BUT to play Avatar right now. and 3D tickets are prices much higher than a regular price, like 2 or 3 times more.
When you look at it that way, Avatar still has made impressive earnings but it does lose some of its glamour
Where the **** do you live that Avatar isn’t playing anywhere except 3D within 50 miles? And Gone With The Wind was rereleased ten times when people didn’t have home theaters, internet, etc. Lower ticket prices, but not as many entertainment options.
Try the states of KY, TN, IN, WV, AL, MS, GA, ND, SD, ID, WY, MT, NH,…. Man i only meant to list a couple, but not all of us stay living in the commercialized areas when we get money. Plus cmon, you know the price of a 3D theater ticket is not worth some movie theaters upgrading when the #1 movie is teenage crap films.
Um, I think Nerdwen said that the only theater playing Avatar within 50 miles was 3D, not that there wasn’t a 3D theater within 50 miles.
It still made 30 million. That’s impressive considering it’s been out for like 9 weeks now.
If only VD was released two years from now, there would be no use arguing around Armageddon’s arrival.
VD is only the first harbinger of the apocalypse. There is still Cop Out, Get Him To the Greek, 3-D Spider-Man and many other atrocities signaling the collapse of Western Civilization. Let’s not forget that Ashley Simpson still has a singing contract.
u are correct sir!! the Myans and Elvis both predicted that these were the signs before the end..Nostradamus actually dug Ashlee Simpson so he left her out of his quatrains…..
It’s a good thing Valentine’s Day raked in so much cash this weekend, because it’s going to plummet like hell next weekend. The Wolfman is also probably going to take a hit from Shutter Island. Percy just might have the best hold of the three new releases.
And wow for Avatar. $30M over a four-day holiday on its NINTH weekend? Ungodly.
And wow for Avatar. $30M over a four-day holiday on its NINTH weekend? Ungodly.
Atleast there is one thing “Titanic” still beats “Avatar” at … “Titanic” made $6 m more in its 9th week.
But prices were cheaper when Titanic came out plus it wasn’t released in 3D! Good grief one 3D ticket costs 2 or 3 times more than a regular ticket, so you don’t have to sell near as many to make more money!
THAT is why Avatar has been making such good money, prices NOT ticket sales
“one 3D ticket costs 2 or 3 times more than a regular ticket” BullS**t!
Good grief one 3D ticket costs 2 or 3 times more than a regular ticket, so you don’t have to sell near as many to make more money!
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I call bull. My theater has like a $3-$5 markup on 3D and IMAX movies, not “two or three times” as much. I’d love to know where you’re getting that statistic.
I love it when people feel the need to downplay Avatar’s success. As if ANY 3D/IMAX movie released today would make $700 million. Please.
NERWEN, I LIVE IN NORTH JERSEY, IN AN AREA WHER MOVIE TICKE PRICES ARE THE HIGHEST IN THE COUNTRY, 20 MINS FROM NYC, AND 3D MOVIES ARE JUSE $2 MORE. The inflation argument you keep going on and on about would only make sense if the film made the same amount of money! Avatar is now making well over what Titanic did, so that’s hardly the case. Besides Titanic didnt have to worry as much about bootleg sales and internet streaming which are pretty typical these days.
Nerdwen – Math is hard isn’t it?
Nerwen you might as well start camping out of Eclipse. Not winning anyone over here.
I saw Percy Jackson this weekend. It sucked! This movie was very loosely based on the book. For those of us who read the book, it was a complete dissapointment. The movie did not stick to the basic plot, and a major supporting character was missing.
Rosalie, please don’t speak for everyone who read the book. I adore the books, but I went into the movie not expecting it to be like the book (if you’d read the reviews, you’d have known that). I enjoyed the movie very much. I have a feeling that they are not expecting to make any of the other Percy Jackson books into movies, and that’s why they made the changes they did. Did you see the disaster of an adaptation of The Golden Compass? They chopped the end of the book from the end of the movie because they were expecting to add it onto the beginning of the second movie, but the first movie tanked and left a lot of people scratching their heads, and there won’t be a second movie to explain what happened in the first. Judge the movie on its own merits, not on its accuracy to the source material.
They are making Sea of Monster’s, due out in 2012.
Really? But how? They took Clarisse out of the first one, and they changed the whole Kronos storyline. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll gladly watch it, but I’m wondering how they are going to pull it off.
wolfman was great!! it actually made me jump a few times…looking forward to percy jackson though…and the crazies!
Wasn’t it “Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief”?
Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief
wooo! a hero named percy? my heart and other parts are all a flutter…
My 16-year old sister dragged me to see Valentine’s Day. I thought it would be horrible (those reviews, yikes), but I actually found myself enjoying it! I guess if it raked in $67 mill, I wasn’t the only one.
Wow a lot of people went to the movies over the weekend. So many movies did well.
What the heck?! And Avatar is STILL making money?! Well, I guess if Avatar cane become the highest grossing movie of all time, then ANY film can!
That is possibly the dumbest comment I have ever read, but to be honest I don’t troll the EW Twilight discussion forums so there are probably dumber ones out there.
I am in college and I went to see Percy Jackson with a bunch of my friends. I thought it was fantastic!! Yes it was a bit different from the book, but movies and books are two different genres. Plus, the author Rick Riordan was in on the whole production process.
Rick Riordan had NOTHING to do with the movie. He only devotes his time to writing the next installment of the Olympians series. I agree that the movie was nothing like the book. The movie itself was enjoyable if you don’t expect it to be like the book. I was disturbed, though, by the more adult references in the movie. I feel that it disconnects the movie from the core audience that was established by the books.
$67 mil for a movie with Taylor Swift and Jamie Foxx in it, sign of the apocalypse much?
get off my JJJJJOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCCCCCCCCKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Are you sure VD stands for valentine day and not venereal disease?
Jeremy, I take it all back.