Weekend Box Office:

1) G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra $56.2 million
2) Julie & Julia $20.1 million
3) G-Force $9.8 million
4) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince $8.8 million
5) Funny People $7.8 million
6) The Ugly Truth $7 million
7) A Perfect Getaway $5.7 million
8) Aliens in the Attic $4 million
9) Orphan $3.7 million
10) (500) Days of Summer $3.7 million

Despite low expectations and lofty speculations about its thematic quality, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra stormed the box office this weekend, racking up an impressive $56.2 million for first place. Word of mouth has been strong, with critics and bloggers claiming it to be a fun summer blast that defies all action film conceits. Though a huge drop off is expected in its second week of release, this Hasbro franchise has shown itself to be a worthy advisory in an otherwise weary summer. We are definitely looking at the next big trilogy here, and it won't be hard for Stephen Sommers to top this one in a sequel.

Hungry people countrywide rushed out to see Julie & Julia, making it the second highest grossing film of the weekend. This love letter to Julia Child ( as played by Meryl Streep) pulled in a respectable $20 million, and won the hearts of audience members and critics alike. This week's only other major release didn't fare quite as well. Universal's thriller A Perfect Getaway dropped in at number seven, earning a weak $5.7 million. Not too impressive. We probably won't see this one on the charts come next week.

A couple of art house flicks hit the circuit this weekend, but neither were any match for G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra as far as the per screen average was concerned. Cold Souls, Sophie Barthes' new comedy starring Paul Giamatti, earned $63,300 for the second highest per screen average (just behind G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra), taking in an estimated $9,043 from each of its seven screens. Paper Heart, Charlyne Yi's look at love and life, earned $206,000 playing at a respectable 38 theater locations throughout the country.

Next weekend sees the debut of this year's sci-fi action masterpiece District 9. Will it be able to hold its own against The Time Traveler's Wife and The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard? My guess is that we have another huge blockbuster on our hands with Neill Blomkamp's first feature film.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra was released August 7th, 2009 and stars Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Christopher Eccleston, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Byung-hun Lee, Sienna Miller, Rachel Nichols, Ray Park, Jonathan Pryce. The film is directed by Stephen Sommers.

Julie & Julia was released August 7th, 2009 and stars Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci, Chris Messina, Linda Emond, Helen Carey, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Jane Lynch. The film is directed by Nora Ephron.

G-Force was released July 24th, 2009 and stars Bill Nighy, Sam Rockwell, Will Arnett, Jon Favreau, Zach Galifianakis, Nicolas Cage, Kelli Garner, Penélope Cruz. The film is directed by Hoyt Yeatman.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released July 15th, 2009 and stars Daniel Radcliffe, Michael Gambon, Dave Legeno, Elarica Gallacher, Jim Broadbent, Geraldine Somerville, Bonnie Wright, Julie Walters. The film is directed by David Yates.