Audiences Enter ‘District 9’ – Box Office Results: August 14th-16th

Audiences everywhere entered District 9 this weekend. The movie was a surprise hit, grossing an estimated $37 million, considering it had no real stars besides producer Peter Jackson, and with a low budget. District 9 was also a hit among critics as well, earning an 89% on poll site Rotten Tomatoes. Early buzz could've also helped District become a success; considering this was the movie that Jackson and first-time director Neill Blomkamp had scrapped the Halo
adaptation for.

In second place was last weekend's successor G.I Joe: The Rise of Cobra with $22.5 million. It took a 59% dive. Ouch. The Time Traveler's Wife, starring Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana about a wife whose husband is forced to travel to random points in time against his will, finished third with $19.2 million. It beat similar My Sister's Keeper's $12.4 million. Strange, since a mere 37% of critics enjoyed it. Fourth was Julie & Julia starring Amy Adams and Meryl Streep. The film, portraying Streep as late cook Julia Child gathered $12.4 million, with a total of $43.7 million in ten days. G-Force rounds out the top five with $6.9 million. The family comedy now has a sum of an estimated $99 million.

Other movies that opened this weekend-

• The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard starring Jeremy Piven as a used car salesman finished at number six with about $5.4 million. Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, the guys who last year brought us the sleeper Step Brothers, served as producers; however it seems that the only hits the duo can make are when McKay is director and Ferrell is star. The opening weekend gross didn't come anywhere near Brothers $30.9 million debut.
  
• Ponyo, the latest animated movie from writer/director Hayao Miyazkai finished in ninth with an estimated $3.9 million.
  
• Bandslam, about a group of misfits who enter a battle of the bands contest opened with $2.3 million showing on 2,121 screens. I expected it would do way better than this, considering it stars HSM star Vanessa Hudgens and appeals to a generally tween-based audience.
  
• Spread, starring Ashton Kutcher as a male gigolo, debuted with $117,000 showing on 91 theaters.
  
• It Might get Loud, the new documentary from Davis Guggenheim (the director of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth) hauled in $101,000 on seven screens. The movie starring The Edge, Jack White and Jimmy Page couldn't manage to beat Truth's $281,330 opening gross.
  

Here are the box office results according to studio estimates Sunday-

1. District 9…$37 million
   
2. G.I Joe: The Rise of Cobra…$22.5 million
   
3. The Time Traveler's Wife…$19.2 million
   
4. Julie & Julia…$12.4 million
   
5. G-Force…$6.9 million
   
6. The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard…$5.4 million
   
7. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince…$5.2 million
   
8. The Ugly Truth…$4.5 million
   
9. Ponyo…$3.5 million
   
10. (500) Days of Summer…$3 million