Paris, Dear John Join Box Office Battle with Avatar

Can Avatar, now the official all-time domestic and worldwide box office record holder, hold on to the crown for its eighth straight weekend?

Not if John Travolta has anything to say about it. The actor returns to the action genre in From Paris With Love. The Lionsgate film is opening in an estimated 2,722 theaters this weekend.

Also new this weekend is the Sony/Screen Gems romantic movie Dear John. Starring Amanda Seyfried, Channing Tatum and Richard Jenkins, it will show in an estimated 2,900 cinemas.

A pair of Oscar nominees ‘ An Education and Crazy Heart ‘ are expanding this week.

But Avatar, which was nominated Tuesday for nine Academy Awards, has been hanging on to its audience quite well, with last weekend’s $31 million take having dropped only 10.5 percent from the previous week.

Next weekend brings some more direct competition for Avatar in the form of Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and The Wolfman.