Neill Blomkamp’s District 9 opened to the tune of $37 million this past weekend, which puts it not quite on par with some of the bigger blockbusters of the summer, but does surpass its production budget. It managed to knock G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra out of the #1 spot, which fell to #2 with another $22.5 mil. The Time Traveler’s Wife also had a fairly strong opening with $19.2 million, while The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard made a very disappointing $5.35 million. I really think this movie could have done better on a different release date without so much competition. Hayao Miyazaki’s Ponyo debuted with just $3.5 million which is pretty weak for something with the Disney name on it, although it was playing on less than 1000 screens. Also interesting to note: Judd Apatow’s Funny People has been bounced out of the top 10 after just 2 weeks.

1. District 9 — $37M
2. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra — $22.5M
3. The Time Traveler’s Wife — $19.2M
4. Julie & Julia — $12.4M
5. G-Force — $6.91M
6. The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard — $5.35M
7. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince — $5.16M
8. The Ugly Truth — $4.5M
9. Ponyo — $3.51M
10. (500) Days of Summer — $3.02M