The joint President’s Day and Valentine’s Day weekend proved fruitful for new cinema releases, as all three wide openers got off to solid starts at the box office this weekend.
Expected weekend winner “Valentine’s Day” led all films Friday with a strong $14.63 million take. The critically-panned film is not expected to have a long shelf life, but by virtue of its appeal as a Saturday date movie and to those spending Valentine’s Day at the cinema this Sunday, it will undoubtedly pull a dominant total over the course of the holiday weekend.
“The Wolfman” narrowly topped fellow new release “Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief” for second place Friday, although “Jackson”‘s potential appeal to the Saturday matinee crowd could mean a rankings change by the time the weekend reaches its conclusion. On Friday, “Wolfman”‘s total was $9.85 million, as compared to $9.78 for “Jackson.”
“Avatar” was fourth with $4.5 million; because its target audience was more interested in “Valentine’s Day” Friday, “Dear John” dropped significantly to fifth with just $4.1 million.