The Weekend Gross - Page 4

Opponents of Sony's low-budget sci-fi actioner failed to keep the aliens out, as the $30 million Peter Jackson produced pic dominated the box office with a much better-than-expected $37 million weekend. The debut sent last week's champ G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra tumbling 59% to second with $22.5 million, while Warner's time-bending romance The Time Traveler's Wife finished strong in third with $19.2 million.

Critics went gaga over the directorial debut of South African filmmaker and Peter Jackson protege Neill Blomkamp, whose sci-fi pic blew past industry expectations with a $37 million debut. Thanks to an intriguing viral advertising campaign, stellar reviews and great buzz coming out of this year's Comic-Con convention, the modestly budgeted $30 million alien-encounters pic overcame having a cast of complete unknowns and a very unusual storyline. Averaging a stellar $12,135 in 3,049 theaters, the R-rated pic skewed heavily male and Under 25, dominating the core audience that propelled G.I. Joe's opening weekend.

Compared with last year's  Cloverfield, a similarly unconventional sci-fi release that thrived off its unusual premise, no stars, low budget, and pseudo-documentary style visuals, District 9 fell a bit short of that $40.1 million opening. The film tailed off quickly and finished its domestic run with $80 million. But if word of mouth turns out to be strong for District 9, look for the film to best that number.

Thanks to the arrival of District 9, last week's champ G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra fell a steep 59% to $22.5 million, bringing its ten day haul to $98.8 million.  Budgeted at a hefty $175 million, the Paramount/Hasbro release will most likely fall short of its budget by the end of its domestic run.

Warner's counter-programming play succeeded for third as their romance The Time Traveler's Wife opened with $19.2 million.  Averaging $6,427 in  2,988 theaters, the Rachel McAdams-Eric Bana flick shrugged off poor reviews and saw a 17% drop in sales from Friday to Saturday, indicate lukewarm word of mouth.

Conversely, Meryl Streep's Julie & Julia fell just 38% to $12.4 million in fourth. Budgeted at just $38 million, the Sony release has grossed $43.7 million in ten days.

Debuting poorly in sixth was the R-rated  comedy The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, which took in $5.4 million in 1,838 theaters for a $2,911 average. Starring Entourage's Jeremy Piven, the film was slaughtered by critics.

Debuting in ninth with much fanfare from critics but not much love from audiences was Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki's latest film Ponyo, which took in just $3.5 million in 927 theaters. Averaging a modest $3,782 per theater, the film is just the latest in a line of critically-acclaimed and internationally popular Miyazaki releases that failed to find an audience in the U.S.

Thanks to a better-than-expected debut from District 9, the top ten films grossed an estimated $119.5 million, up 12% from last year's comparable frame when Tropic Thunder topped with $25.8 million.

Against the better judgment of film critics, many of whom were kept out of pre-release screenings thanks to a cheeky move by Paramount to give bloggers and fanboy sites first crack at reviewing their latest toy-to-screen adaptation, young male moviegoers flocked heavily to G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, giving the big-budget actioner the fourth largest August debut in history with $56.2 million.  Meryl Streep's well-received Julie & Julia also beat expectations in second with $20.1 million.

Thanks to a massive marketing push and an ultrawide launch in 4,007 theaters across North America, Paramount's $175 million budgeted toy commercial G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra posted the fourth biggest August opening in history with $56.2 million, averaging a fantastic $14,025 per theater. Only 2007's The Bourne Ultimatum ($69.3m), 2001's Rush Hour 2 ($67.4m), and 2002's Signs ($60.1m) have opened bigger. Knowing full well the critical drubbing they took for their last toy-to-movie pic Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Paramount showed the Stephen Sommers directed pic only to a limited number of critics (mainly bloggers and critics from fanboy outlets).  The stunt apparently worked, as Friday's Rottentomatoes.com score sat in the high 80% range before plummeting to 37% this weekend.

Thanks to a massive $22.3 million Friday haul, Joe handily beat expectations in the mid-$40m range.  The film did see an 18% drop in sales from Friday to Saturday, an ominous sign that legs may not be there for this latest popcorn fare. With its mostly day-and-date release across the globe, G.I. Joe bowed with $44 million internationally, pushing its worldwide take this weekend to $100 million. Don't look for the pic to break even domestically.

Offering counterprogramming to the mindless action-fest that is G.I. Joe,  Sony's well-reviewed Meryl Streep-Amy Adams starrer Julie & Julia opened strong in second with $20.1 million, also handily beating expectations.  Launching in 2,354 theaters, the PG-13 pic averaged a healthy $8,539 per theater. While the debut didn't match last summer's musical smash Mamma Mia!, which bowed with $27.8 million, the $38 million budgeted pic saw an encouraging 17% jump in ticket sales from Friday to Saturday, indicating strong word of mouth. Look for a healthy domestic run for the film.

Falling 44% to $9.8 million was Disney's 3D actioner G-Force, which finished third once again this weekend. In three weeks the fx-laden family comedy has grossed $86.1 million. The film should have no trouble crossing $100 million by the end of its run.

Falling one spot below G-Force was Warner's blockbuster sequel Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which fell 50% to $8.9 million. Despite the big drop the film is still running ahead of 2007's Order of the Phoenix, and has amassed $273.8 million in four weeks of release. Budgeted at a massive $250 million, the film has an excellent shot at breaking $300 million domestic to become the second highest grossing film of 2009. Internationally the film took in another strong $22.3 million, bringing its total to $541.8 million. That puts its worldwide total at a jaw-dropping $815.6 million and counting.

The second weekend for Judd Apatow's Funny People wasn't funny at all, as the Adam Sandler-Seth Rogen pic fell 65% to $7.9 million in fifth place. The $75 million budgeted R-rated comedy has grossed $40.4 million to date. At its current pace, the film will finish well short of Apatow's The 40-Year-Old Virgin with $109.2 million and Knocked Up with $148.8 million.