Valentine s Day, a tale of break-ups and make-ups in Los Angeles opened with record-setting Valentine s Day weekend box office takings in North America, pulling in $52.4 million, estimated figures showed Sunday.
The romantic collage starring Jessica Alba, Patrick Dempsey and Ashton Kutcher, among others, beat the $52-million box office record set by Ghost Rider in 2007.
Mythological adventure-fantasy picture Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, based on Rick Riordan s book, starring Pierce Brosnan and Uma Thurman, opened in second place with $31.1 million, said box office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
Another newcomer, The Wolfman, a remake of the lycanthrope legend with Benicio del Toro, Anthony Hopkins and Geraldine Chaplin took a $30.6-million bite at the box office for third place.
In fourth place was science-fiction epic Avatar, the highest-grossing film of all time with more than $2 billion worldwide. In its ninth week on the North American film circuit, James Cameron s film made $22 million.
Romantic tearjerker Dear John fell from the top to fifth spot in its second week. The film, an adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks novel about a soldier who falls in love with a college student, raked in $15.3 million for a two-week total of $53.2 million.
The Dwayne Johnson comedy The Tooth Fairy, was in sixth place in its fourth week of showing, with $5.6 million in box office receipts, with $41.5 million in total.
Action film From Paris With Love, starring John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers, fell from third to seventh spot in its second week with $4.7 million.
In eighth place was revenge thriller, Edge of Darkness, featuring Mel Gibson in his first major screen role since 2002.
The film about a hard-bitten Boston cop hunting his daughter s killers earned $4.6 million for a three-week total of $36 million.
Ninth position went to Crazy Heart, a low-budget drama about a washed-up country singer struggling to rebuild his career starring Jeff Bridges in the Oscar-nominated lead role. Bridges is seen as odds-on favorite to scoop his first Academy Award for the performance.
Crazy Heart earned $4.0 million for a nine-week total of $16.5 million.
Bringing up the rear, in tenth place was romantic comedy When in Rome, starring Kristen Bell as a New Yorker seeking love in the Eternal City. It made $3.4 million for a three-week total of $26 million. -AFP
