Despite a miserable 16% positive rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the star-studded romantic comedy Valentine’s Day posted the third largest February opening ever with an estimated $52.4 million. Percy Jackson and the Olympians, which is based on the popular YA novels by Rick Riordan, took second with an estimated $31.1 million, while Universal’s R-rated Wolfman was a very close third with an estimated $30.6 million. These three strong debuts plus Avatar’s solid hold ($22 million, down just 3.7%), pushed the box office to an all time high for the Valentine’s Day weekend, up 14% from last year and 56% from 2008.
| Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): February 12-14, 2010 | |||||
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| Film | Wknd Gross | Screens | Avg./Screen | Total Gross |
| 1 | Valentine's Day | $52,410,000 | 3,665 | $14,300 | $52,410,000 |
| 2 | Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief | $31,100,000 | 3,356 | $9,267 | $31,100,000 |
| 3 | The Wolfman | $30,627,000 | 3,222 | $9,506 | $30,627,000 |
| 4 | Avatar | $22,000,000 | 2,685 | $8,194 | $659,605,000 |
| 5 | Dear John | $15,300,000 | 2,975 | $5,143 | $53,178,000 |
| 6 | Tooth Fairy | $5,600,000 | 2,748 | $2,038 | $41,528,000 |
| 7 | From Paris with Love | $4,740,000 | 2,722 | $1,741 | $15,850,000 |
| 8 | Edge of Darkness | $4,585,000 | 2,615 | $1,753 | $36,069,000 |
| 9 | Crazy Heart | $4,000,000 | 1,005 | $3,980 | $16,526,000 |
| 10 | When in Rome | $3,429,000 | 2,125 | $1,614 | $26,027,000 |
Percy Jackson should solidify its hold on second place over the four-day weekend with kids out of school on Monday for President’s Day. With a 48% positive rating Percy Jackson was the best reviewed debut film of the weekend and its strong opening may enhance the chances of its star Logan Lerman to play Peter Parker in the Sony reboot of the Spider-Man franchise. It’s no secret that Lerman wants the role, though Sony might want to groom its own star, someone who isn’t associated with another movie franchise.
It should be interesting to see if Universal’s The Wolfman, which was directed by Joe Johnston, who is helming the Captain America movie for Marvel Studios, manages to avoid the huge second weekend drop that plagues most horror films.
Meanwhile Avatar keeps chugging right along pushing its domestic cumulative to $660 million. Cameron’s 3D science fiction saga remains the #1 film overseas where it has earned a mammoth $1.69 billion, which means that its worldwide total is now $2.35 billion.
