Box Office: G.I. Joe Rises to $56 Million

Posted by John Cairns (jcairns@filmschoolrejects.com) on August 9, 2009

I always find it odd when people whine and complain and bash a movie before it appears for months on end, claiming what a lousy movie it’s going to be, and then suddenly everyone has a big change of heart at the last minute and sees it. Such is G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra.

And I guess I am glad to see people give it a chance after all these months of people whining about it before even seeing it. Mind you, I don’t know if I’m with the people who claim it’s such a great movie, but for some reason I don’t feel the level of venom to this flick that I felt towards that Transformers sequel and its jive-talking robots. At least you didn’t have that here, so I’m a little calmer today. Besides, I kind of like it when my fave actress Sienna Miller ends up in a hit movie. She hasn’t been in too many of those, that’s for sure.

Also, this movie is still going to have trouble getting its money back with a $56 million opening, even though it is the fourth-biggest August of all time. I read that it cost something like $175 million to make.

But still — it is odd, isn’t it, when people bash a movie for months and then suddenly show up for it anyway? Or maybe the people who bashed it didn’t show up, anyway — maybe they were just a vocal minority. I know the so-called “grownup” movie fans have been pretty vocal in trashing G.I. Joe and trashing Transformers, and in fact have been trashing much of what you see at the theaters these days. I notice that segment of the movie-going audience went to Julie & Julia and handed it a handsome $20 million. Still, there are not enough of those older folks flocking to the cinemas these days — as is pretty obvious.

All I have to say to all of you 40-and-over movie fans is: don’t despair. Oscar season is right around the corner. Hang in there. Just try and get through this summer of Hasbro products on the big screen and you’ll be fine.

The box office totals are as follows:

1. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra – $56,200,000
2. Julie & Julia – $20,100,000
3. G-Force – $9,804,000
4. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – $8,880,000
5. Funny People – $7,866,000
6. The Ugly Truth – $7,000,000
7. A Perfect Getaway – $5,765,000
8. Aliens in the Attic – $4,000,000
9. Orphan – $3,730,000
10. (500) Days of Summer – $3,725,000

That is all for now — see you later this week with more here at the Reject Report!

Read more articles by John Cairns