Romantic comedy Dear John rode a strong wave of support from the teenage girl audience to have the highest opening ever for a movie, knocking Avatar out of the top spot in the process.

Dear John, Hollywood's fifth adaptation of a tear-jerker Nicholas Sparks novel, sold USD 32.4 million worth of tickets in US and Canada from Friday through Sunday, according to an estimate from distributor Sony Pictures.

According to sources, that's above last week's estimates based on pre-release polling, which predicted that Avatar would stay ahead of the Sparks film.

James Cameron's 3-D blockbuster ended up declining 25 per cent on its eighth weekend to USD 23.6 million. Combined with the USD 76 million it collected in 120 foreign countries this weekend, 'Avatar' increased its worldwide total to more than USD 2.2 billion.

Dear John, which stars Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried, posted the highest Super Bowl opening, courtesy a single demographic: teen and college-age girls.

The audience of the Lasse Hallstrm-directed film was 84 per cent female and 64 per cent under 21, according to exit polls.

"(Sony) did an incredible job with marketing by never straying from the core audience of the picture," said Geoff Ammer, president of marketing for Relativity Media, which financed 'Dear John'.

"We knew it would be red hot when the trailer (played well to audiences) before Twilight," said Sony distribution president Rory Bruer.