May 26, 2012

Joe and Julia Control the Box Office

by Rebecca Pahle | Published August 10, 2009

The top two spots at this weekend’s box office went to newcomers—G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra was number one, earning $56.2 million, while second place went to Julie and Julia, earning $20.1 million, less than half what G.I. Joe did. It’s hard to compare the two movies, though, when they’re so fundamentally different. G.I. Joe is an action-oriented popcorn movie with a huge budget, while Julie and Julia stars Meryl Streep as famed chef Julia Child. Presumably there are no explosions in Julie and Julia, though you never know.

The guinea pig-starring animated film G-Force hung on to the number three spot with a $9.8 million weekend gross, while Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince took spot number four with $8.8 million, bringing its total gross to $273.8 million. Funny People, at the top of the box office last week, fell to the number five spot, a big drop for the Judd Apatow-directed comedy.

Other movies debuting this week were thriller A Perfect Getaway, which came in at number seven, and the indie comedy A Paper Heart, starring Michael Cera and Charlyne Yi, which took spot number 16. Summer success The Hangover finally fell out of the top 10 after being there for more than two months. It took spot number 1 this week, with its total gross coming to $262 million.