It looks like Avatar has finally met its match. The death blow came from a most unlikely quarter: the romantic drama Dear John. The latest movie to carry the “from the author of The Notebook” tag, Dear John opened to a stronger-than-expected $13.8 million on Friday and is now on its way to a projected weekend take in the $30 million range. Avatar brought in less than half of John‘s total – though its $6.1 million in week eight still smoked the estimated $3 million collected by From Paris with Love on its debut date. Avatar has lost Fridays in the past only to go on to victory in the weekend race. But on those occasions, the film’s margin of defeat was much smaller and there was no demographically-appealing sporting event looming. Avatar fans, start stealing yourselves for a second place finish… just in case.
| Title | Friday | Total | |
| 1 | Dear John | $13,800,000 | $13.8 |
| 2 | Avatar | $6,100,000 | $612.6 |
| 3 | From Paris w/Love | $3,000,000 | $3 |
| 4 | Edge of Darkness | $2,300,000 | $2.3 |
| 5 | When in Rome | $2,000,000 | $2 |
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