Box Office Final: 'Valentine's Day' at $65.4M

Monday holiday box-office final:

Culminating yet another record-breaking holiday weekend at the domestic box office, Warner Bros. ensemble romantic comedy "Valentine's Day" finished No. 1 with $65.4 million, according to studio estimates covering the full four-day Friday-through-Monday period.

Fox's Chris Columbus-directed, $95 million PG-rated fantasy film "Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief" also performed way above pre-release forecast, grossing $38.8 million.

Universal's $110 million remake of "The Wolfman" finished third with a four-day gross of $36.5 million, slightly above predictions of about $34 million going into the weekend.

Acccording to one studio's figures, the four-day President's/Valentine's Day weekend yielded all North American movie distributors about $235 million, up 9 percent over last year's record $216 million haul. "Valentine's Day," a $52 million film directed by Gary Marshall and featuring a star-studded roster of brief appearances, beat out 2007's "Ghost Rider" ($45.4 million) as the top all-time performer for this pivotal week end on the February calendar.

"You had three new pictures come in for three different audiences, and all of them connected," noted Fox executive VP of distribution Chris Aronson.

Holdovers helped, too.

In its ninth weekend of release, Fox 3D phenom "Avatar" added another $30 million to cumulative totals that have now surpassed $660 million domestically and $2.3 billion worldwide.

Sony's "Dear John" -- last week's box-office champ -- grossed $18.8 million over the four days, bringing its two-week total to above $56 million. The film was fully financed by Relativity Media for a reported $25 million.

Other incumbents holding strong included Fox's "The Tooth Fairy" (grossed $7.7 million in week four) and Lionsgate's "From Paris with Love" ($6.8 million in week two).

Here's how the top 10 shaped up over the four-day President's Day holiday:

Three new wide releases seemed like a crowd coming into the Valentine’s/President’s Day box office.

But more than halfway through the weekend, moviegoer love is finding a way to make it all work, with each of the new films outperforming pre-release revenue expectations or matching them, while leading the North American box office to what’s shaping up to be an President’s Day weekend record.

On top is Warner/New Line’s star-studded romantic-comedy ensembler “Valentine’s Day,” which grossed $18.4 million on Saturday and is pacing to finish the four-day holiday-weekend period with about $62 million.

That’s the biggest President’s Day weekend performance ever, topping 2007’s “Ghost Rider” starring Nicolas Cage, which opened to $45.4 million.

“New Line put together a terrific cast and a good concept, and while the reviews weren’t stellar, the audience response has been great,” said Warner distribution president Dan Fellman.

Also outperforming forecasts is Fox’s PG-rated Chris Columbus fantasy film “Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief,” which added $11.5 million Saturday and is pacing to finish past $40 million for the four days.