Only a few weeks ago few people had heard anything about District 9, but thanks to some impressive marketing both online and at events like Comic Con, the hype went through the roof, which has resulted in an impressive US opening weekend of $37 million. That’s certainly not bad for a film that’s only believed to have cost $30 million to make. The story of aliens kept in a closed off compound and their fight for freedom has also benefitted from great word of mouth, which should see it make a lot more money over the coming weeks.
G.I. Joe slid nearly 60% but still managed second place with $22.5 million. That takes it total to an okay but not particularly good $98.7 million after 10 days. Paramount had hoped that last week’s solid opening would help generate more interest, but it seems people aren’t as interested as they’d hoped.
The Time Traveler’s Wife came in at number 3, with $19.2 million, despite middling reviews. Two other openers hit the chart with the Jeremy Piven comedy The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard only taking $5.3 million in its first three days for a fifth place finish, which is undoubtedly a disappointment. The other new entry is Hayao Miyazaki’s latest, Ponyo, which opened the a solid $3.5 million from less than 1,000 screens, to end up in ninth place.
However the big loser of the weekend was Bandslam, which only made $2.3 million, despite going out on 2,121 screens and getting some pretty good reviews (and a Fresh rating on RottenTomatoes). The film didn’t make the top 10 at all, and may well have suffered from a marketing campaign that concentrated on the High School Musical crowd, even though the film is more teen than tween.
Take a look below for the full US box office top 10 for the weekend of August 13th-16th.
| Rank | Title | Weekend Gross (millions) | Total Gross to date (millions) |
| 1 | District 9 | $37 | $37 |
| 2 | G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra | $22.5 | $98.7 |
| 3 | The Time Travler’s Wife | $19.2 | $19.2 |
| 4 | Julie & Julia | $12.4 | $43.6 |
| 5 | G-Force | $6.9 | $99 |
| 6 | The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard | $5.3 | $5.3 |
| 7 | Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince | $5.1 | $283.9 |
| 8 | The Ugly Truth | $4.5 | $77.5 |
| 9 | Ponyo | $3.5 | $3.5 |
| 10 | (500) Days Of Summer | $3 | $17.9 |