The 4 day Valentine’s Day / Presidents Day double-feature weekend is shaping up to be a record breaking one at the box office.  Yesterday, Valentine’s Day (the movie, not the holiday, which is tomorrow..yes i know this is all very confusing) made about $15M at the box office.  If Valentine’s Day (the movie) becomes a popular date night activity on Valentine’s Day, the holiday, then there is quite a good chance the movie will earn up to $60M over this four-day holiday weekend.

Not to be out-done, the elequently titled Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, and The Wolfman both earned about $10M yesterday.  (Imagine the mashup movie you could make with those two titles…I just like thinking about werewolves playing Olympic sports, but then again I am catching Winter Olympic fever).  Because of the very different audiences those 2 films are targeted at (children vs. adults), Percy & his friends could make up to $50M over the 4 day weekend, whereas Wolfman is looking at a more realistic $30 plus million.  Not too bad for a hairy Benicio Del Toro, as this represents by far the biggest opening of his career, and also not a bad debut considering the release of this film has been delayed more times than Obama’s health care reform  (Believe it or not, Wolfman was initially intended for release Thanksgiving 2008).

Hanging on in 4th place in the holiday weekend standings is our good old friend Avatar, which made around $5M on Friday, on pace for another $20M plus weekend.  I’m thinking at this point everyone who has ever been to a movie has probably already seen Avatar, so this repeat business is beyond impressive.  Can we credit those who might want to experience the film again in 3D in a variety of altered states?  I’m just asking, but we certainly can’t rule out that audience.

Bringing up 5th place for the big Holiday weekend is last week’s #1, Dear John, which took a steep drop from its huge opening last weekend and made just over $4 million yesterday and will probably wind up the 4 day weekend in the $17 to $20M range.   At this rate the box office top 10 charts will soon be sending a Dear John letter to the movie itself and bid it au revoir.  But do not cry for Dear John, it will have a long shelf-life as a must watch dvd at slumber parties for years to come.