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Call it a Super Bowl weekend upset or proof of the law of diminishing returns - or even the triumph of one love story over another. Whatever the explanation, Dear John, a young-adult weepie based on a novel by The Notebook's Nicholas Sparks, dethroned Avatar as king of the domestic box office, according to early studio estimates. The clear victory - $32.4 million for Dear John to the sci-fi eco-epic's $23.6 million - ends Avatar's weekend winning streak at seven. James Cameron's previous smash, Titanic, reigned for an astounding 16 consecutive weeks, from its opening...
...strategy of the folks at Screen Gems - the company that took on Dear John after New Line surrendered the property when the company got folded into its parent, Warner Bros. - was to open the movie on Super Bowl weekend, when American males, a big part of Avatar's constituency, were preoccupied with large men running, throwing and writhing in pain. Director Lasse Hallström, who has helmed such dewy fare as Chocolat, Something to Talk About and The Shipping News, gave the remaining femme audience the standard Harlequin cocktail of a handsome soldier (G.I. Joe's Channing Tatum...
...Still, don't weep for Avatar. Its 24.6% drop from the previous weekend was its steepest yet, but that's still minuscule compared with most movies. It also has a huge female fan base, as did Titanic, which TBS, in its own canny counterprogramming, is showing opposite the Super Bowl. Avatar is the all-time top grosser (in current dollars), it's still No. 1 worldwide, and it looks to stay strong through this year's Oscar bash (which is four weeks from today), where it will be a prime contender for Best Picture, Best Director and a slew...
...movies in trouble; girls on top. It's enough to make industry analysts wonder if there's a place for male stars, and male audiences, at the box office - at least on Super Bowl weekend...
...about an hour away from kickoff, but if you still haven't figured out your Super Bowl plans, here's what's happening in the Houses and around the Square...