G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra rocked the weekend box office, posting the fourth-biggest August opening ever with more than $56 million in receipts.
The movie, a Paramount release based on the classic toy line, animated series and comic books, also did well overseas, taking in about $44 million for a worldwide opening weekend of about $100 million.
Packed with visual effects, the action film directed by The Mummy‘s Stephen Sommers was not screened in advance for critics.
Also faring well in its opening weekend was Julie & Julia, a drama starring Meryl Streep, which took in $20.1 million.
The animated guinea pigs of G-Force came in third place ‘ its $9.8 million gross bringing the film’s domestic total to $86 million. In fourth, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince pushed its total gross to an impressive $273 million with $8.8 million of that coming in this past weekend.
Aliens in the Attic, a CG-animation and live-action hybrid, placed eighth with a $4 million weekend total and a two-week tally of $16 million.
Also still in release but sliding down the charts quickly are the animated movies Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Up. The former has taken in $187 million domestically so far, while the latter’s tally is $287 million.
