`Dear John' delivers No. 1 debut with $30.5M

The romantic drama "Dear John" has knocked the sci-fi blockbuster "Avatar" off its No. 1 box-office perch.

"Dear John" debuted with $30.5 million, nudging "Avatar" to second-place with $22.9 million.

"Avatar," which had been No. 1 for seven weekends, raised its revenue records to $639.3 million domestically and $2.2 billion worldwide.

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Hollywood.com are:

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