Variety reports the top movies, in terms of box office take, for the week of 21-27 August 2009. New Nazi-killing film Inglorious Basterds topped the charts, pushing District 9 from #1 to #2. Peter Jackson’s alien-social-commentary grossed $25.5 million, for a two-week total of $80.1 million. GI Joe slipped from #2 to #3, where it took in $16.4 million, for a three-week total of $124.4 million. The sf/drama The Time Traveler’s Wife also slipped, from #3 to #4, earning $14.0 million, for a two-week total of $41.4 million. New family-comedy-wish-fulfillment fantasy Shorts opened at #1, bringing in $8.7 million. G-Force was pushed down from #5 to #7, garnering $5.8 million, for a five-week total of $109.0 million. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince slipped from #7 to #8, grabbing up another $5.0 million, for a six-week total of $291.8 million.
Ponyo, the new Hayao Miyazaki film, slipped from #9 to #12, earning $3.4 million, for a two-week US total of $9.1 million (it opened last year in Japan Gake no ue no Ponyo). Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen showed some strength, holding steady in the #17 spot. This week, it took in $1.4 million, for a nine-week total of $398.8 million. The Orphan fell from #16 to #21, grossing $1.1 million, for a five-week total of $40.2 million. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs fell from #18 to #22, bringing in $1.1 million, for an eight-week total of $192.7 million. Aliens in the Attic fell hard again, from #15 to #23, taking in just under $1 million, for a four-week total of $22.5 million.
Up (last week’s #22) and Night at the Museum: Battle Smithsonian (last week’s #23) both slipped out of the top 25 (to #26 and #27, respectively) in their thirteenth and fourteenth weeks in the theatres.
SFScope reviews of movies mentioned in this article:
Young Wizards in Love—a review of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by Michael A. Burstein