Audiences savor 'Julie & Julia'; 'Joe' muscles into top spot

By Sarah Sluis

This week's box-office winner was no surprise. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra made $56.2 million and packed its 4,002 theatres with an average of $14,000 per screen, despite the fact (or perhaps because?) film critics didn't have a chance to weigh in on the film. While not nearly as successful as Transformers, another Hasbro toy adaptation, the movie is on its way to being profitable thanks to strong overseas performance, and, of course, the expected resurgence of the action figures. Toy sales, of course, are proof that the intended audience for the movie is a pre-teen boy (or one in spirit).

In a smaller wide release of just 2,354 screens, Julie & Julia brought in $20.1 million, a promising start for a film that cost just $40 million to make. Many of my family, friends, and relatives have seen (or are planning to see) the movie, and have spoken warmly of the viewing experience, even cracking out some Julia Child cookbooks afterward. By virtue of its intergenerational protagonists, biography, and culinary history, I anticipate Julie & Julia will become a word-of-mouth hit, or at the least become part of the summer movie zeitgeist. Within the weekend, its Saturday gross spiked 16% over Friday, and its Sunday gross is estimated to be only slightly under Friday, a performance that bodes well for its longevity week-over-week.

The more forgettable A Perfect Getaway opened at number seven with $5.6 million. For a low-budget horror movie, however, the numbers are only slightly below target.

Judd Apatow's Funny People dropped heavily in its second weekend. The 65% was the steepest fall of any film in the top ten, and its $7.8 million gross brings its total to a lackluster $40.4 million. Still, with his three-picture deal signed with Universal, Apatow will have plenty of chances to pitch another box-office and critical home run.

Specialty film (500) Days of Summer finally cracked the top ten. It brought in $3.7 million, more than doubling the theatres in its release, from 266 to 817 locations. Cold Souls, which debuted in 7 theatres, had the second-highest per-screen average of the weekend, $9,000. Opening in a more robust 38-location release, Paper Heart brought in $5,400 per theatre for a cumulative gross of $206,000. While normally specialty releases aim for a $10k+ per-screen average, this week has been quiet, and only major release G.I. Joe made it past this threshold, a sign the summer is winding down.

This Friday, six films will open in wide release. The Time Traveler's Wife, Bandslam, District 9, The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, Taking Woodstock, and Ponyo are all planned to hit theatres and grab the last of the summer box office.