'Avatar' loses box office crown to 'Dear John'

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MEN "KICKING AND SCREAMING"
Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried star as lovers whose romance is curtailed by the Sept. 11 attacks. It was directed by Swedish filmmaker Lasse Hallstrom and based on the novel "Dear John" by Nicholas Sparks.

The film was distributed by Sony Corp's mid-budget label Screen Gems, after Time Warner Inc's New Line Cinema unit dumped the USD 25 million project. Screen Gems said audiences for the film were 84 percent female and almost two-thirds were under the age of 21.

Ammer said the handful of men "dragged kicking and screaming" to the movie appeared to enjoy it, and he hoped word-of-mouth would bring in more of them. Critics largely ripped the movie.

John Travolta's latest box office offering, "From Paris With Love," was the actor's worst start in almost a decade. The crime thriller opened at No. 3 with $8.1 million. Distributor Lionsgate had hoped for an opening in the mid-teen millions, and said the blizzard did not help business. Critics were also unkind.

Travolta's previous worst opening was the USD 4.5 million start for "Lucky Numbers" in October 2000. He was in theaters last November with "Old Dogs," which opened at ticket sales of USD 17 million.

"From Paris With Love" was made by French filmmaker Luc Besson's Europa Corp, which enjoyed a worldwide hit last year with the Liam Neeson kidnap thriller "Taken." Pierre Morel directed both films. Lionsgate is a unit of Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.

Also new to the top 10 was Fox Searchlight's "Crazy Heart," which expanded nationally after seven weekends in limited release on the heels of its three Oscar nominations on Tuesday.

The picture earned USD 3.65 million, jumping six places to No. 8. Its total stands at USD 11.2 million. Jeff Bridges, its star, is considered the favorite to take home the best actor Oscar on March 7 for his role as a washed-up country music singer and songwriter. Fox Searchlight and 20th Century Fox are units of News Corp.

"Avatar" and "The Hurt Locker," the latter now out on DVD, led the Oscar field with nine nominations each.