Even though the movie was “for humans only,” District 9 had no problem dominating the box office on Friday, according to early estimates. Capitalizing on its Comic Con buzz and an ingenious viral marketing strategy, the sci-fi thriller grossed $14.2 million on its first day. Not bad for a film that reportedly cost only $30 million and was directed by an unknown 29-year-old named Neill Blomkamp. The romantic drama The Time Traveler’s Wife, with seemingly no aliens or apartheid metaphors, proved to be solid counter-programming by taking second place with $7.7 million. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra dropped a hefty 68 percent in its second week for a Friday tally of $7.2 million, indicating that only a third of the 13-year-old boys who saw the movie last weekend returned yesterday. Fourth and fifth place went to Julie & Julia and G-Force, which cooked up $3.6 million and $2.1 million, respectively.
Also opening was the Jeremy Piven comedy The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, which clearly didn’t sell hard enough, registering a mere $2 million from 1,838 theaters. Disney’s attempt to make Hayao Miyazaki’s latest animated wonder, Ponyo, into an American hit appears to have floundered, as the movie grossed $1.2 million from 927 screens. And Summit Entertainment’s ploy of debuting the trailer for The Twilight Saga: New Moon in front of Bandslam didn’t catapult the Vanessa Hudgens pic into the green — it made $890,000. Friday’s figures are below. Check back here on Sunday for the complete box office report.
1. District 9 — $14.2 mil
2. The Time Traveler’s Wife — $7.7 mil
3. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra — $7.2 mil
4. Julie & Julia — $3.6 mil
5. G-Force — $2.1 mil
More box office news from EW:
Box Office Preview: Will ‘District 9′ prove, yet again, that moviegoers want originality?
‘G.I. Joe’ wins box office battle with $56.2 million
‘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
I will be seeing District 9 again.
I had a feeling that everyone was underestimating District 9.
The author forgets about Friday’s biggest news: Half-Blood Prince has passed Transformers to become 2009′s Top Worldwide grosser. It has grossed $821.4 Million in 31 days.
‘District 9′ rocked! Great flick! Loved it.
I agree–excellent movie. I wonder if they will make a sequel in three years?
Ponyo was great, too bad about the soft numbers
HAHAHA! Bandslam didn’t even make $1 Million on its first day. District 9 all the way!!!
I too will be seeing District 9 again, that sequel can’t come fast enough either!
AWESOME movie. Just saw it and thought it was a masterpiece. Story moved in ways that were totally unexpected and fresh. Hope that this non-human gets to see it again soon.
It sucks about Goods but it wasnt even in 2,000 theaters so it wasnt going to be big!!
I saw District 9 this afternoon, mostly to get out of the crazy 90 degree weather here in Ontario, and was pleasantly surprised. I liked that it was in S.Afr. and not the States, otherwise it would have been another GI Joe; instead it was more thoughtful and interesting. Great 2 hours
I’m happy to see that District 9 has probably won the weekend. It’s nice to see smart SF win the day (Transformers 2 be damned).
It is a shame to see that US audiences haven’t warmed to Ponyo. It’s a sweet family film that has a wonderful message. Studio Ghibli, like PIXAR, can do no wrong.
Bandslam was pretty good. I didn’t think I was going to like it but it wasn’t bad. really
D9 SUCKED!! OMG, whats with the mechanical aliens needing food, esp. catfood? And the stupid evictions? The happy evictor? Didn’t work at all.
The fact that you think the aliens were mechanical tells me that you are either a little slow or you didn’t really pay attention to the movie. So I have very little respect for you thoughts on the film. Go watch G.I. Joe with all the other people that don’t want to think.
Sad about Ponyo, although I did like Princess Mononoke better. Maybe that would have fared better if they had advertised it more when it showed?
REALLY wanted to see District 9. Camera angles/shooting/shaking make me queasy. : (