“G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” dominated the weekend box office, but it did so without setting the world on fire.
Earning an estimated $56.2 million this weekend, “GI Joe” established itself as a solid, but unmemorable summer action film–more in the vein of last year’s “Incredible Hulk” than an “Iron Man” or “Transformers.” Though there is no question about the film recouping its near-$200 million production budget on a worldwide basis, it presently is not even guaranteed to reach the top ten on 2009’s year-to-date gross list.
The film opened with a strong $22.3 million Friday but then dipped 18% Saturday and another 14% Sunday. Such a trend speaks negatively about the film’s shelf life–a second weekend gross below $25 million would not be shocking.
Still, a $56.2 million opening is very strong for an August film (the aforementioned summer tentpoles were not released so late). The figure places “GI Joe” fourth on the all-time list for month, and Variety notes that the solid debut weekend should secure a green light for a sequel. Paramount was said to be very happy with the film’s premiere performance.
Meanwhile, Meryl Streep-starrer “Julie & Julia” landed at second place with an estimated $20.1 million. Impressive for a film in the genre, its audience, predictably, skewed older and female–64% of moviegoers were over the age of 35 while 67% of its crowd was female, according to Variety.
The weekend was not all positive. New thriller “A Perfect Getaway” opened in seventh place with a meager $5.8 million, while the Judd Apatow-directed “Funny People,” which won last week’s box office race, dropped a staggering 65.3% to $7.9 million for fifth place. A career-worst drop-off for the director (the drop-off was also considerably worse than most films that list Apatow as a producer), the steep decline is almost unheard of for a non-sequel comedy that draws solid reviews.
Weekend Top Ten:
1) GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra – $56.2 million
2) Julie & Julia – $20.1 million
3) G-Force – $9.8 million ($86.1 million)
4) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – $8.9 million ($273.8 million)
5) Funny People – $7.9 million ($40.4 million)
6) The Ugly Truth – $7 million ($69.1 million)
7) A Perfect Getaway – $5.8 million
8) Aliens in the Attic – $4 million ($16.3 million)
9) Orphan – $3.7 million ($34.8 million)
10) (500) Days of Summer – $3.7 million ($12.3 million)
