It was savaged in the press. The trailer was a bust. Fans of the original series complained early and often on the Internet. It wasn't even screened for critics. However, in spite of everything, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, dominated the weekend box office with a gangbusters $56.2 million dollar opening weekend. In a way, it's a surprise, but in a way G.I. Joe is the perfect movie for the summer, and exactly the opposite of last week's top film, Funny People (fifth place, $7.8 million).

In something of a surprise finish, Julie & Julia took home a very strong second place this weekend in the shadow of the Joes, with $20.1 million. Amy Adams and Meryl Streep are a great pair on film, and this movie appears to be no exception as everyone I've talked to about it has said nothing but good things. (Julie & Julia is not surprising; however, the positive comments about G.I. Joe were.)

Disney's G-Force also continues to perform strongly, holding onto third place at the box office while Funny People and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (fourth place, $8.88 million) both sank around it. It seems reasonable, considering that G.I. Joe has the same audience as Potter and the Pottermania has extinguished itself in a month's time.

The Ugly Truth drops so sixth place this weekend on $7 million dollars in US grosses. In spite of herself and her constant badmouthing of Gray's Anatomy, Knocked Up, and basically every other project that made her relevant, Katherine Heigl's romantic comedy continues to kick along nicely, edging closer to $70 million. I have to admit I'm curious as to what horrible things she'll say about this movie in six months' time. Maybe Gerard Butler gave her a wedgie, or director Robert Luketic strapped her in for waterboarding.

The weekend's other debut, A Perfect Getaway, bowed in seventh place with $5.765 million dollars. I've seen this trailer a million times now, thanks to its constant rotation, and I never recognized Steve Zahn, Milla Jojovich, or Timothy Olyphant. That's probably not a good sign. I'm not sure if it's bad for them or bad for me, though. This really seems like the kind of movie that should have no recognizable names (even if they're kind of unrecognizable faces). A better option might have been to cast this film with cheaper actors, a-la surprisingly strong performer Orphan (ninth place, $3.73 million). It's easier to make money with relatively unknown or inexpensive stars.

Fox's Aliens in the Attic drops to eighth place this weekend. The $45 million dollar movie brought in $4 million this weekend for a grand total of $16.2 million overall in the States. It'll be a quick stay at the box office for this badly-timed release. Not that it would've done much better at some other time of the year, but throwing it against Harry Potter and the Joes didn't exactly position it for success.

However, (500) Days of Summer is poised to be this year's Juno. Rolling into wider release, this surprisingly strong anti-romantic comedy/drama has been garnering incredibly positive reviews thanks to this year's Michael Cera, Joseph Gordon Levitt. This film rose into the top 10 this weekend on the strength of a $3.725 million dollar haul. Quietly, the film has picked up $12.3 million dollars since its premiere. What's going to finish with more, Days of Summer or Aliens in the Attic?

There are a lot of new releases this weekend. Blasting the doors off the cineplex are the massively hyped sci-fi yarn District 9, the obnoxious guy comedy The Goods: Live Hard Sell Hard with Jeremy Piven recycling Ari Gold, the comedy Bandslam that I know nothing about aside from the presence of David Bowie, the romance The Time Traveler's Wife, and the dubbed American version of Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo.

I know where I'll be this weekend.