Yo Joe! GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra opens to $22 million on Friday.

Well, I guess this isn't The Avengers all over again.
While I certainly hope that this doesn't turn into some kind of culture war thing ("Finally, a movie for flyover country", stupidly exclaims Nikki Finke), I happily amused. Proving that there's no such thing as bad publicity, GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra scored a whopping $22.3 million on its opening Friday. I liked the movie (and it IS a movie, not a film) far more than I expected to. I expect this is one that I'll be defending for awhile, ala Speed Racer. It's not nearly as good as Speed Racer, but it's being dismissed in the same 'it's too fast, it's too colorful, it's too action-packed' old-man's cry.

Anyway, it now has the third-biggest opening day in August history (Rush Hour 3 opened with $23 million and The Bourne Ultimatum opened with $24 million). It only has to do just over a 2. 2x multiplier to easily pass the $49.1 million opening for Rush Hour 3. That will put it number four for the month, which is likely as high as it will go on the August opening weekend list. Number 3 is Signs' $60 million opening, which would require less frontloading than this film will likely have (2.7x is a bit high for this kind of movie). There will be more to discuss when the opening weekend numbers roll in, but this is a best-case scenario result for a better than expected franchise starter. Note to Summers - put more expendable heroes and villains in the sequel to amp up suspense, keep Brendan Fraser around, and find a role for Oded Fehr.

Julie and Julia scored $6.4 million on its opening day, which will likely lead to a just-under $20 million weekend. Comparisons to The Devil Wears Prada are unfair. The reviews weren't nearly as kind, it's competition, GI Joe, wasn't coming off of two days of audience dissatisfaction (Ala Superman Returns). Plus, inexplicable media obsession aside, Anne Hathaway was and is a much bigger star than Amy Adams. It only cost $40 million to make, a number it will likely pass by next weekend.

A Perfect Getaway acted like the studio dump it likely was, opening to just $2.1 million. The only other real news is the 69% Friday-to-Friday collapse of Funny People. I didn't like the movie, but it didn't deserve this.

Scott Mendelson