The first estimates are out for the weekend box office and they see G.I. Joe claiming the top spot with a figure that the execs at Paramount would be very happy with, $56,200,000. Obviously this figure will change slightly when the official results are in tomorrow and there are no reports about the films foreign box office total but those in the know at Paramount would be happy. The film reportedly cost $175 million to make and Paramount have taken a huge risk, denying most critics the chance to see and albeit criticize it. They really need to maximize it's appeal and exposure to the family market, especially boys if they want this film to be a success and spawn the series they so desperately want as its critical appeal has declined steadily leaving the film with a current score of 39% on Rotten Tomatoes. $56,200,000 is a good opening but there were some worrying signs, the daily gross from Friday to Saturday dropped by 18% and from Saturday to Sunday 14%. Usually films experience an increase in daily gross over the weekend as word of mouth gets out and more people go and see it. It isn't until afterwards that the film starts to experience dramatic drops. The fact it openend the weekend with $22.5 million and finished with $15.7 could be a little worrying.

Consider the other film opening this weekend, the drama Julie & Julia starring Merryl Streep. It openend with $20,100,000 to come in second at the box office and experienced an increase in daily gross from Friday to Saturday of 16.2% before dropping by 19.9% from Saturday to Sunday. This meant though it's Friday and Sunday daily take were nearly the same. Meanwhile the Transformers juggernaut has edged ever closer to the $400 million mark currently sitting at $393,701,000 for its US gross putting it well ahead as the top movie of 2009.