Moviegoers were there to see Rachel Nichols and Channing Tatum in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra during its opening weekend to the snappy tune of $56.2 million at the domestic box office. Though not quite the $60 million Friday’s hot start of $22.3 million indicated might happen, overseas ticket sales rang up an estimated $44 million in receipts for a combined opening weekend worldwide tally of $100.2 million.
Meryl Streep and Amy Adams also attracted good business in Sony’s Julie & Julia which came in second with an estimated domestic gross of $20.1 million or roughly half of its production budget.
The newcomer third wheel turned out to be David Twohy’s A Perfect Getaway which could only muster $5.8 million. Rogue and Universal Pictures are likely to find a broader audience on DVD and Blu-ray Disc for the hiking thriller starring Milla Jovovich.
Elsewhere at the box office, (500) Days of Summer cracked the top 10 for the first time and Orphan slipped to the bottom spot.
The complete box office results for August 7 – 9 are as follows (click linked titles to read our review):
- 1. GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra: $56.2m
- 2. Julie & Julia: $20.1m
- 3. G-Force: $9.8m
- 4. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: $8.8m
- 5. Funny People: $7.9m
- 6. The Ugly Truth: $7m
- 7. A Perfect Getaway: $5.8m
- 8. Aliens in the Attic: $4m
- 9. 500 Days of Summer: $3.73m
- 10. Orphan: $3.73m
Next weekend looks to be a good one with Neill Blomkamp’s highly touted sci-fi thriller District 9 squaring off against The Time Traveler’s Wife. Another battle will see Summit Entertainment’s tween flick Bandslam, riding the publicity of Vanessa Hudgens’ latest nude photo scandal with the added bonus of being the first place to see The Twilight Saga: New Moon’s first full theatrical trailer, challenge the R-rated comedy The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard with Jeremy Piven.
Also opening this upcoming weekend but on less than 1,000 screens a piece are Hayao Miyazaki’s animated Ponyo and the comedy Pool Boys with Matthew Lillard.
