Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself easily took the weekend box office crown with an estimated $24 million. Writer/Director/Actor Perry has managed to produce five #1 movies in the past five years, a record unmatched by any other helmer over the past half decade. Perry’s movies appeal to an audience that is totally underserved by
Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): Sept. 11-13, 2009
| Rank | Film | Weekend Gross | Screens | Avg./Screen |
| 1 | Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself | $24,030,000 | 2,255 | $10,656 |
| 2 | 9 | $10,856,000 | 1,661 | $6,536 |
| 3 | Inglourious Basterds | $6,546,000 | 3,215 | $2,036 |
| 4 | All About Steve | $5,800,000 | 2,265 | $2,561 |
| 5 | The Final Destination | $5,500,000 | 2,732 | $2,013 |
| 6 | Sorority Row | $5,268,000 | 2,665 | $1,977 |
| 7 | Whiteout | $5,100,000 | 2,745 | $1,858 |
| 8 | District 9 | $3,600,000 | 2,560 | $1,406 |
| 9 | Julie & Julia | $3,300,000 | 2,342 | $1,409 |
| 10 | Gamer | $3,150,000 | 2,502 | $1,259 |
Dominic Sena’s adaptation of Greg Rucka’s Whiteout graphic novel actually opened in 500 more theaters than I Can Do Bad. But while the Atlanta-based Perry’s movie managed a muscular $10,656 per theater, Whiteout only drew a paltry $1,898 per venue on its way to its disappointing 3-day total of $5.1 million. Whiteout was hurt by disastrous notices (only 8% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes) and by competition for the thriller/horror audience from Sorority Row. The college-based slasher flick didn’t do much better, earning just $5.2 million. In fact, the 3D thriller The Final Destination, which is in its third weekend outperformed both of the new films in the genre by earning an estimated $5.6 million and finishing in fifth place.
Tis the season for horror films and there’s a bunch of them in the offing including Jennifer’s Body, Pandorum, Zombieland, Night of the Demons, The Stepfather and Saw IV. With this many films competing for the horror film audience it is a good bet that hapless teenagers won’t be the only casualties during the coming Halloween season.
The offbeat animated film 9, which was produced by Tim Burton, finished in the second spot with an estimated $10.8 million. 9 opened on Wednesday to take advantage of a 9/9/09 debut date and has earned a total of $15.2 million so far. It should be interesting to see if this stylish film can come close to matching Coraline’s solid $75 million performance at the domestic box office.
Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds dropped just 44% in its fourth weekend and finished in third place with an estimated $6.5 million. This weekend Basterds became the 20th film of 2009 to pass the $100 million mark. It will soon overtake Pulp Fiction and become the director’s top-grossing film (though it still trails Pulp Fiction in admissions by 25%).
In its sixth week in the theaters G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra dropped out of the top ten for the first time. The Hasbro-based action picture has earned $144 million and is likely to finish its run near the $150 million mark.
Overall it was another down weekend at the box office with the top ten films earning less than $75 million, which is down 11% from last year when the Coen Brothers’ Burn After Reading opened with $19.1 million.
