"Dear John" dethroned " Avatar" from the number one spot this weekend, and is on track to open with the biggest Super Bowl box office weekend ever, according to estimates released Sunday.

The romantic drama is expected to take down last year's Hannah Montana movie for the Super Bowl weekend record, and is projected to move US$32.4 million worth of tickets in the North American market, the North America box office authorities projected.

Proving that women rule at the box office, 84 percent of the audience for "Dear John" was female, and a great marketing campaign involving Twitter and Facebook all helped to make "Dear John" a major hit, the authorities said when releasing projected statistics about movie theater sales over the weekend beginning on Friday.

In claiming the number two spot, Avatar," the sci-fi epic by James Cameron and was nominated for the best drama and best director Oscars, is projected to bring in US$23.6 million in ticket sales this weekend, for a total of US$630.1 million in domestic sales during its eight-week run. It has become the No.1 box office grossing movie in Canada and the United States earlier this week.

"From Paris With Love," an action film starring John Travolta debuted in the number three slot with 8.1 million dollars.

Rounding out the top five most-popular films this weekend, based on estimated sales in the United States and Canada, are:

-- "Edge of Darkness," Warner Bros., 7 million dollars this weekend, US$29.1 million over two weeks;

-- "Tooth Fairy," Fox, 6.5 million dollars this weekend, US$34.3 million over three weeks.