Well, however you feel about kid sensations taking the leap, the other Hasbro toy line/TV show has jumped from plastic case to big screen with G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, and it did catch some attention as one of the last big movies of the summer season. Reeling in around 56 million so far, the overly pumped action movie from Stephen Sommers brought in a lot of people, though of course with its 175-million-dollar budget the studio will probably worry their pants off until they can reach it. With somewhat more positive buzz than practically everyone (including this writer) expected, let’s see how this sucker measures up when it goes up against District 9 this coming Friday.
The food-filled Julie & Julia also was released this week. Starring the talents of Meryl Streep and Amy Adams, the women, or anyone else who was a fan of the late Julia Child, basically had a film to flock to if they didn’t have the appetite for the aforementioned testosterone-filled action film (and knowing the characters is half the battle!). Bringing in 20 million to date, this Nora Ephron film is already doing well for itself, proving to be a neat little hit.
Along with Julie & Julia is the underachieving film The Perfect Getaway which not only left a bad taste in a majority of critics mouths, but did not catch the attention of the majority of general audiences. Scraping in a little over five million, this little ‘vacation’ will be quickly forgotten when the last slew of summer films sweeps its way in.
Last but not least is the quirky independent documentary-toned film Paper Heart starring Charlyne Yi and directed by Nicholas Jasenovec. Still quite under the radar, so to speak, with a little over two hundred thousand, the film will be distributed to more cities across the nation on Friday. Time to check out the top ten of the box office for this past weekend:
Weekend Box Office (August 7-9)
- G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra ($56.2 Million)
- Julie & Julia ($20.1 Million)
- G-Force ($9.8 Million)
- Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince ($8.8 Million)
- Funny People ($7.8 Million)
- The Ugly Truth ($7 Million)
- A Perfect Getaway ($5.7 Million)
- Aliens In The Attic ($4 Million)
- Orphan ($3.73 Million)
- 500 Days of Summer ($3.72 Million)
Make way for what seems to be the second to last leg of the summer movie season with District 9, Bandslam, Ponyo, The Time Traveler’s Wife, The Goods, Spread and It Might Get Loud.
