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9 opened on Wednesday (9/9/09, of course) with $3.1 million, which was probably about the best that could be hoped for from an animated movie that is basically targeted to adults. It had a three-day total of $10.9 million and a five-day number at $15.3 million. Often, movies such as these can hope for a boost from great word-of-mouth, but 9 is sitting at only 56% Fresh at RottenTomatoes, which means that the critical support just isn't really there. Its budget is estimated around $33 million, and it's probably going to finish right in that range. 9 will do great business on video, though, where the people who were hesitant to give it a shot in theaters will be a little more generous when they can spend a little less and watch it from the comfort of their own sofa.

Third place goes to Inglourious Basterds, the Quentin Tarantino film that continues to ride decent buzz toward becoming the director's highest domestic grossing film ever. Basterds took in another $6.5 million this weekend and dropped 44%. Its current total is $104.3 million, just $3.6 million short of the $107.9 million that Pulp Fiction earned in North America. The Weinsteins finally have a movie to be truly proud of, and you can bet that they'll be pushing it for a number of Academy Awards nominations when the season gets into full gear.

All About Steve manages to stay in the top five despite its dismal reviews and word-of-mouth. The Sandra Bullock/Bradley Cooper romantic comedy earned $5.8 million from Friday-to-Sunday, a 48% drop from its debut frame. It won't be terribly long before the film fades completely from memory, or at least that's what the movie's stars are praying for. So far, All About Steve has a domestic total of $21.8 million, and will wind up far, far short of what Cooper and Bullock's summer movies made.

Rounding out the top five is The Final Destination, which falls another 56% despite having the 3-D hook. The Warner Bros. horror show had a weekend total of $5.5 million, and has become the highest grossing movie in the franchise as it sits with a grand total of $58.3 million. We can almost assuredly count on another Final Destination at some point in the future, because it's easy to see there's a lot of life(?) in the idea of hot teens meeting their deaths in the most intricate and clever of ways.

Another horror film sits in sixth place. This time it's one of our new openers in Sorority Row, from Summit Entertainment. That studio is effectively just biding its time until November and New Moon, because all that Sorority Row could manage was $5.3 million from its 2,665 screens, good for a sad venue average of $1,977. Barely marketed and inexplicably starring Carrie Fisher, the movie is 33% Fresh at RottenTomatoes, which means there's nothing particularly remarkable about it and it's going to behave exactly as a typical slasher flick should. This one will fade away quickly before bringing in the bulk of its revenues from DVD.

Our final new opener, Whiteout, is in seventh place, but it might as well be forgotten. Based on a comic book, the movie had Kate Beckinsale all bundled up in a parka, which shows that somebody was missing the point. Whiteout earned $5.1 million from Friday-to-Sunday, and its per-location average was right in line with Sorority Row's at $1,858. It has exactly six positive reviews out of 78 at RottenTomatoes, which means that its Rotten Rating is 8%. Its budget is reported at $40 million, so no one at Warner Bros. or Dark Castle Entertainment is going to be too happy with where this one is going to wind up.

We close out the top ten with three repeat flicks in District 9, Julie & Julia and Gamer. Sony is responsible for both District 9 and Julie & Julia, and they have to be mighty pleased with the box office for each of them. District 9 earned another $3.6 million this weekend, down 49% (it was pretty clearly a victim of football). So far, its domestic total sits at an awesome $108.5 million. Julie & Julia fell a larger-than-usual 38% on its way to $3.3 million, and brings its grand total to $85.4 million. Meryl Streep has become something of a box office draw. Who could have seen it coming? As for Gamer, the Lionsgate title dropped a hefty 66% in its second frame to $3.2 million, and its grand total is $16.1 million. Gerard Butler might be well liked, but he can't be considered a bankable star, which has to be alarming news for the people behind the upcoming Law Abiding Citizen.

Compared to last year, the box office is down a bit. The top 12 for 2009 grossed $78 million, a 9% drop from last year's $85.9 million. Interestingly, 2008 also featured a Tyler Perry movie (The Family That Preys), but it also had the benefit of a solid opening from the Coen Brothers' Burn After Reading and an okay debut from the Al Pacino/Robert De Niro film Righteous Kill. Next weekend looks pretty solid, with another 3-D animated flick in Cloudy With a Chance of Meatball, another horror flick in Jennifer's Body, Matt Damon in The Informant! and Jennifer Aniston in Love Happens.

Top Weekend Box Office for 9/11/09-9/13/09 (Actuals)
Rank	Film	Distributor	Estimated Gross	Actual Gross	Weekly Change	Running Total
1	Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All by Myself	Lionsgate	$24,030,000	$23,446,785	- 2.4%	$23,446,785
2	9	Focus Features	$10,856,484	$10,740,446	- 1.1%	$15,160,926
3	Inglourious Basterds	The Weinstein Company	$6,546,000	$6,140,617	- 6.2%	$103,903,469
4	All About Steve	20th Century Fox	$5,800,000	$5,638,243	- 2.8%	$21,650,628
5	The Final Destination	New Line Cinema	$5,500,000	$5,522,377	+ 0.4%	$58,280,235
6	Sorority Row	Summit Entertainment	$5,268,000	$5,059,802	- 4.0%	$5,059,802
7	Whiteout	Warner Bros.	$5,100,000	$4,915,104	- 3.6%	$4,915,104
8	District 9	Screen Gems	$3,600,000	$3,538,769	- 1.7%	$108,456,233
9	Gamer	Lionsgate	$3,150,000	$3,293,055	+ 4.5%	$16,261,653
10	Julie & Julia	Sony/Columbia	$3,300,000	$3,156,316	- 4.4%	$85,216,398
11	G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra	Paramount Pictures	$2,525,000	$2,455,620	- 2.7%	$144,200,266
12	The Time Traveler's Wife	New Line Cinema	$2,325,000	$2,307,017	- 0.8%	$59,035,745
	Also Opening/Notables
	Broken Hill	Audience Alliance	$41,252	$32,140	New	$32,140
	Crude	First Run Features	$16,729	$16,595	New	$21,823
	White On Rice	Variance	$10,200	$8,079	New	$8,079
	Walt & El Grupo	WALT DISNEY	$6,290	$6,059	New	$7,164
	Extract	Miramax Films	$2,233,000	$2,163,337	- 3.1%	$8,601,746
	Halloween II	Dimension Films	$2,315,000	$2,114,486	- 8.7%	$30,094,379
	Shorts	Warner Bros. Pictures	$1,275,000	$1,211,156	- 5.0%	$19,716,511
	My One and Only		$406,348	$350,043	- 13.9%	$1,131,590
	G-Force	Walt Disney Pictures	$1,022,000	$1,015,865	- 0.6%	$116,715,916
Click here for all weekend data
Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations

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