'Dear John' Bests 'Avatar' at the Box Office

Movies making money.

Blue cat-people from outer space are no match for Earthly love. At least that's the message from this weekend's box office, where James Cameron's Avatar has finally been toppled as the highest-grossing film by the drama Dear John.

Cashing in at around $32.4 million, Dear John is this weekend's box office champion. The film stars Channing Tatum as a soldier who meets a young and beautiful woman (Amanda Seyfried) while he is on leave from duty. Things go awry, and pretty soon the only means of survival they have is through each other's letters.

In second-place this week was the scifi epic Avatar, which had spent seven weeks atop the box office list. The film earned $23.6, adding to its total of well over $2 billion worldwide and furthering its record as the highest-grossing film of all-time.

In third place was From Paris With Love, with $8.1 million. The action thriller, starring John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers as CIA agemts on a mission in the city of love, performed below expectations during its opening weekend.

Rounding out the top five were Mel Gibson's Edge of Darkness, with $7 million, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in a tutu in the Tooth Fairy, which pulled in $6.5 million.