With $66.9 mil at 3,665 locations, ‘Valentine’s Day’ became the highest grossing film over the holiday frame.
Moviegoers took “Valentine’s Day” to heart this year — and then some.
Warner Bros.’ romantic ensemble turned in a whopping four-day estimate of $66.9 million at 3,665 locations to become the all-time highest-grossing film over Presidents Day weekend, beating Sony’s “Ghost Rider,” which took $52 million when it bowed in 2007.
The frame’s other wide openers, 20th Century Fox’s kidlit adaptation “Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief” and Universal’s “The Wolfman,” helped make it the most profitable Presidents Day Weekend yet with $238 million, up 9% over last year’s benchmark of $220 million.
“Percy” earned an estimated $38.8 million at 3,356, while “Wolfman” took in $36.5 million at 3,222.
At the specialty B.O., Fox Searchlight saw big turnouts for its Oscar-nommed “Crazy Heart” with four-day estimates totaling $5 million at 1,005 locations. The distrib’s other release, “My Name Is Khan,” scored the highest opening for a Bollywood film in the U.S. with $2.3 million at 102.
“Valentine’s Day” matched its top domestic performance with strong day-and-date turnouts overseas, earning $35 million through Sunday at 4,562 screens in 57 territories. The pic unseated “Avatar” in Australia with $6.5 million at 373, as well as in the U.K., where it grossed $5.8 million at 503.
Domestically, most of the frame’s top performers saw robust upticks or held steady over the long weekend.
“Valentine’s Day” jumped 26% on Saturday with $18.3 million over Friday’s $14.6 million take, while “Percy” saw a 17% uptick on Saturday with $11.4 million. “Wolfman” held steady.
On Sunday, “Valentine’s Day” was up 28%, earning a stellar $23.5 million to become the biggest Valentine’s Day grosser ever. The pic beat the holiday’s previous record holder, Sony’s “50 First Dates,” which earned $19.8 million in 2004.
“Valentine’s Day,” produced by New Line, packed theaters that day in key markets, including L.A. and San Francisco, where B.O. increased 56% and 62%, respectively.
“Love is in the air on the West Coast,” said Warner Bros. prexy of domestic distribution Dan Fellman. “Everything was so big with quite a spread across the board.”
Pic now reps Warner’s biggest four-day opener, overtaking the previous record holder, last year’s “Terminator Salvation,” with $52 million.
Fellman credited New Line as a “fabulous asset for Warner” and championed director Gary Marshall, saying, “You’ve got to pat Gary on the back. From ‘Pretty Woman’ to this, he really knows what he’s doing out there.”
“Valentine’s” benefited from a fortuitous marriage of marketing campaigns and strategic frame placement, as well as the on-the-nose film title.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Tuesday.
1. “Valentine’s Day,” $52.4 million.
2. “Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief,” $31.1 million.
3. “The Wolfman,” $30.6 million.
4. “Avatar,” $22 million.
5. “Dear John,” $15.3 million.
6. “The Tooth Fairy,” $5.6 million.
7. “From Paris With Love,” $4.7 million.
8. “Edge of Darkness,” $4.6 million.
9. “Crazy Heart,” $4 million.
10. “When in Rome,” $3.4 million.
[Credit: Variety / Hollywood.com]