DISNEY - G.I. JOE WOUNDED ON SUNDAY

G.I. JOE WOUNDED ON SUNDAY

Suggesting that "Mission accomplished!" may have been declared prematurely over the weekend debut of G.I. Joe , final box office figures indicated on Monday that Paramount's estimate for the movie's ticket sales on Sunday was off by some $1.5 million. The studio's final count for the weekend was therefore $54.7 million, rather than its original estimate of $56.2 million. (On Sunday afternoon all major studios issue a weekend estimate based upon actual ticket sales for Friday and Saturday and an "educated guess" on what their releases will earn on Sunday.) In reporting the disparity, the Los Angeles Times observed today (Tuesday) "The fact that G.I. Joe didn't meet the studio's estimate signals combined with the movie's sizable 18-percent drop from Friday to Saturday, indicates it may be suffering from weak audience buzz and could experience a sizable drop next weekend of more than 60 percent." With the film reportedly costing $175 million to produce and an additional $50-75 million to promote and distribute, the film will need to earn at least $300 million to break even. Another bad sign a camcorded version of the movie has already hit BitTorrent and came in at No. 9 among TorrentFreak's list of the most pirated movies of the week.

The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Box Office Mojo (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date) 1. G.I. Joe The Rise of Cobra, Paramount, $54,713,046, (New); 2. Julie & Julia, Sony, $20,027,956, (New); 3. G-Force, Disney, $9,870,594, 3 Wks. ($86,183,076); 4. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Warner Bros., $8,928,349, 4 Wks. ($273,848,633); 5 . Funny People, Universal, $7,986,435, 2 Wks. ($40,537,755); 6. The Ugly Truth, Sony, $6,750,125, 3 Wks. ($68,838,257); 7. A Perfect Getaway, Universal, $5,948,555, (New); 8. Aliens in the Attic , 20th Century Fox, $4,021,478, 2 Wks. ($16,314,371); 9. (500) Days of Summer, Fox Searchlight, $3,739,702, 4 Wks. ($12,357,265); 10. Orphan , Warner Bros., $3,674,306, 3 Wks. ($34,766,199).

11/08/2009