One month after the record-breaking opening of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, the team of Paramount and game-maker Hasbro proved again that toys are serious business at the box office. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra overcame bad buzz and scathing reviews to win the weekend with $56.2 million, among the best August openings in history for a non-sequel. The win also adds box office clout to the careers of stars Channing Tatum (Fighting) and Sienna Miller (Stardust), who both scored career bests.
Second place went to Sony’s foodie film Julie and Julia, which earned an appetizing $20.1 million bow from the combined appeal of star Meryl Streep and her character, super-chef Julia Child. A 16 percent bump from Friday to Saturday suggests strong support from adult audiences, who generally don’t rush to theaters on Friday night, as well as good word of mouth, which could help push the film to hit status as the summer draws to a close.
The week’s other new wide release, A Perfect Getaway, looks set to make a quick escape from theaters after a disappointing seventh-place debut with $5.8 million.
Among the weekend’s holdovers, Disney’s guinea pig pic G-Force (No. 3, $9.8 million) scurried up to $86.1 million in its third week, while Judd Apatow’s dramedy Funny People (No. 5, $7.9 million) took a steep 65 percent second-week plunge.
Be sure to check back next week to see if G.I. Joe can hold off the invasion of District 9…
More box office news from EW:
‘G.I. Joe’ leads Friday box office with $22.3 million
Box office preview: Is ‘G.I. Joe’ Hasbro’s next blockbuster?
Box Office Report: ‘Funny People’ laughs to No. 1 with $23.4 mil
‘Funny People’ takes Friday box office with $8.6 million
I saw the movie and it sux…i actually fell asleep watching it…but I slept through the whole Harry Potters movie…so it wasnt that bad.
“80s music videos are not dead, they just live on defSpot com ‘
You must’ve been sleepy because Harry Potter 6 was awesome! i loved every minute of it.
Channing Tatum and Sienna Miller
didn’t have anything to do with GI Joe’s box office. Just like Shia Labeouf and Megan Fox didn’t put people in seats for Transformers. They’re all young actors who are cheap and can be easily plugged into a summer blockbuster.
I wouldn’t be so sure chris. The only reason I saw the first Transformers movie was because of Megan Fox. Even she wasn’t enough to get me into the sequel though, lol. But I’ll probably rent it because of her.
that is such a sad declaration.
True, it is. Then again, posting on a movie site is pretty sad in and of itself, so I’m in good company.
Not surprised. I read (not on EW, which was apparently too busy stalking Robert Pattinson) that Paramount heavily marketed it to country music audiences and military families. Guess their unusual strategy paid off.
I know it’s common to bash EW’s fixation of Twilight, but maybe they didn’t care about publicizing GI Joe because it simply looks atrocious, and one exercise of CG overload this summer (i.e., Transformers 2) was more than enough. I’m glad they previewed District 9 instead, which looks like an action movie with enough cliche busting elements that’s worth buzzing about.
And GI Joe succeeded because of the lack of action movies since Transformers 2, not because of some bizarre marketing towards military families and country music listeners. Me thinks war/military aficionados would rather view The Hurt Locker.
I can not speak for all military families, but I did serve in the military. I can guarantee you 100% that my family would not have gone anywhere near Hurt Locker while I was serving. While it looks like an excellent movie, and I look forward to seeing it, it is just too realistic and too painful an experience to think military families will sit through it. I can’t think of anyone with a military link who would want to think of their loved ones near that experience.
To MomC:
Well that’s true. The Hurt Locker might hit too close to home for military families, and would opt for more escapist fare. I more referred to people who’re intrigued with anything based off the military, and not necessarily military families or veterans (though they can be both).
Not that I’m discounting the idea of military families wanting to view GI Joe. It’s just the idea of them being the focus group of a Paramount marketing scheme sounds silly. Lifetime and CBS didn’t need to do that to make ‘Army Wives’ and ‘The Unit’ (and in a lesser extent, Fox with ’24′) succeed. Saying that’s how GI Joe gained profits is simply patronizing towards military families. I’m pretty sure their reasons for viewing GI Joe has little to do with a family member serving in Iraq.
Well, you’re pretty much wrong. Paramount held GI Joe’s premiere on July 31 at Andrews Air Force for soldiers and their families. They also bought ads in numerous local and national military newspapers and Web sites. It was indeed marketed directly at military families because it was tracking so poorly with the fanboy crowd.
Odd that US military families would go see it when the movie completely disrespects the US military by making GI Joe an international UN-style operation. They aren’t even “real American heroes” — just “real heroes.” Total bs. Anyone who respects the US military and the sacrifice the families make should boycott the movie.
Great Arch, now I have to go see G.I. Joe just so I won’t be associated with your idiotic boycott. Thanks a lot jerk!
What a coincidence: I actually fell asleep while reading jon’s comment. Perhaps you have a sleeping disorder? I am sorry that you spend so much money on movies that you sleep through, that must be frustrating.
I found the movie to be very faithful to my memories of the cartoon, for better or for worse. Good nostalgic time for me, but I can’t imagine the experience for someone who doesn’t have those memories. I kinda liked seeing, for once, a movie remake erring on the side of pleasing fanboys over the mainstream.
Chris brings up a good point. I actually couldn’t have picked either Channing Tatum or Sienna Miller out of a lineup on name recognition alone. I know I’ve seen them in other stuff, I just can’t name em.
Stalking Robert Pattinson,funny Crispy and so true.
I don’t know. I think Sienna Miller’s cleavage is responsbile for the of that earned cash. I’m just saying that the Paramound marketing dept. put them front and center in the trailers and commercials.
This movie sucked Bad acting bad story bad everything. I love action movies but this is an insult to everyones intelligence!!! Channing Tatum needs acting classes big time I hope not see him in many other movies !!
Check out “A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints”, see if that changes your opinion at all (it might).
Hahaha. They aren’t trying to score Academy Awards with this movie, it was made for the sole purpose of entertainment. So pull your head out of your a, and stop complaining.
If you wanted to cry, you clearly picked the wrong movie.
NATALIE : I thought it was an okay movie, because I didn’t go into it with crazy expectations, and I didn’t pay, so that helped. Having said that, I still think you’re crazy. Are you one of the actors or something? Mad because people have opinions? Seriously, chill dude.
Great. Once again people choose what appears to be a third-rate remake of what should have been left as a childhood classic. Seriously more of you couldn’t go see the Hurt Locker? No we’re going to get an atrocious sequel to what I can only imagine was a horrible movie. Thanks a lot everyone.
Again, the critics have shown that they are simply out of touch with what audiences want to see. During troubling times like a recession, most people want escapism, fun and entertainment. This is especially true during summer. But if you look at history, for example during The Great Depression, people were looking for the same thing. No one wants to pay for movie tickets, parking, concessions and two hours later come out feeling depressed.
Comparing this to Hurt Locker is apples and oranges, sir. Completely different vibes and feelings coming out. It’s like saying that the SUV is better than a Mini Cooper, when there’s really no comparison between the two as they have completely different utility.
Julie & Julia was a wonderful movie, the sets in Paris were beautiful, & the food looked wonderful! To bad you can’t smell through the screen! lol….
WHAT is up with the ads on this page?!? Floating video content that takes 30 seconds to load and I can’t skip it??? Are you really that desperate for money, EW, that you’d risk upsetting your readers? Wow–shameful.
Install the Firefox browser and then the NoScript addon. I never see any of the garbage people complain about. As long as people using IE they will be forced to download and wait for content they aren’t interested in.
I’ll rent GI Joe when it comes out on DVD. And far as Sienna Miller… I’m looking forward to seeing her in the flick. She’s twice as pretty as Megan Fox, IMO, and a much, much, much better actress.
Nice work, Joe! Return to base! Finally, a summer movie that doesn’t spend all its time pandering to the critics! I’m going again tomorrow!
District 9 is going to dominate.