1. "Inglourious Basterds" ($38 million)
2. "District 9" ($18.8 million)
3. "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" ($12.5 million)
4. "The Time Traveler's Wife" ($10 million)
5. "Julie & Julia" ($9 million)

It took at least a decade for Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds" to emerge from the recesses of his mind and into movie theaters, but it seems the wait was well worth it. After a $14.3 million Friday debut and a $13 million Saturday, analysts are projecting a $38 million weekend for the World War II-era revenge flick, significantly higher than the $30 million best case scenario most experts predicted prior to the film's release. Read more...

1. "Inglourious Basterds" ($14 million)
2. "District 9" ($5.8 million)
3. "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" ($3.6 million)
4. "The Time Traveler's Wife" ($3.3 million)
5. "Julie & Julia" ($2.7 million)

They say a basterd's work is never done, but Friday night's box office numbers makes it clear that a basterd's work is just beginning. Quentin Tarantino's long-awaited "Inglourious Basterds" opened in the top spot with a surprisingly large $14 million Friday evening, the biggest single-day opening for any of the acclaimed director's films. Prior to the weekend start, most projections pegged "Basterds" at a $30 million weekend at best, but that number has since changed to a likely $35 million. Read more...

"Avatar," James Cameron's big-money and hotly hyped new film finally saw its first full trailer hit the Internet today, and the Twitter-Wood feed was full of reactions -- both good and bad -- to his new race of blue-skinned humanoids.

Meanwhile, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Chloe Moretz chose to discuss two other films, exchanging expectations about their upcoming release "Kick-Ass" the already-released and "Julie and Julia." The feed had all manner of commentary today, both biting and excited, so check it all out, along with Pamela Anderson's camping destination and Elizabeth Banks' frustrations. But first check out a shot of Arnold Schwarzenegger's unusual pile of autographs. It's stacked up below in the Twitter-Wood report for August 20, 2009. Read more...

1. "District 9" ($37 million)
2. "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" ($22.5 million)
3. "The Time Traveler's Wife" ($19.2 million)
4. "Julie & Julia" ($12.4 million)
5. "G-Force" ($6.9 million)

Given its strong opening day of $14.2 million and a Saturday take of $12.6 million, it's hardly surprising to hear that "District 9" finished its first weekend on top of the box office. What is surprising is that "District 9" is on track to make $37 million by Sunday's end, meaning that the alien-centric film has already surpassed its budget costs by $7 million. According to Deadline Hollywood Daily, the results surpassed rival studios' expectations of the film, thanks largely to good word of mouth and grassroots marketing from producer Peter Jackson, director Neill Blomkamp and the rest of the "District 9" team. Read more...

1. "District 9" ($13 million)
2. "The Time Traveler's Wife" ($7.5 million)
3. "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" ($7.2 million)
4. "Julie & Julia" ($3.6 million)
5. "G-Force" ($2.3 million)

There's nothing alien about the moviegoing crowd's relationship with "District 9," the Peter Jackson-produced, Neill Blomkamp-directed science fiction epic that opened in the top box office slot on Friday evening. The film -- which is what an adaptation of the "Halo" video game could have looked like had studios trusted Jackson and Blomkamp's vision -- opened to at least $13 million, with that number set to go higher after west coast numbers are accounted for. Read more...

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" ($8.9 million)
5. "Funny People" ($7.9 million)

Don't ever let anybody tell you that fighting for freedom wherever there's trouble is easy. Despite becoming the fourth biggest August debut of all time thanks to a strong $22.3 million Friday opening, "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" only earned $18 million on Saturday, a 16% drop from its opening day figures. The result is a projected $56.2 million opening weekend according to studio number-crunchers. Read more...

1. "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" ($22 million)
2. "Julie & Julia" ($7.5 million)
3. "G-Force" ($2.8 million)
4. "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" ($2.4 million)
5. "Funny People" ($2.4 million)

With blue and red lasers a-blazing, "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" stormed the box office on Friday to a $22 million dollar opening, on track to earn a respectable $55 million this weekend. The success might surprise the readers following our Box Office Poll -- after questionable trailers, some potentially damaging rumors about the director and other signs of failure, many of you expected "Rise of Cobra" to sink. Now we know -- remember kids: knowing is half the battle -- and it's not just ticket sales that the real American heroes are making bank on. Read more...

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming. Sort of. Twitter-Wood and Around the Blogosphere will not be seen today; Warmoth is out and I'm too bummed about the late John Hughes to start digging through a Blogosphere's worth of remembrances. Normally I'd try to fill Warmoth's giant Twitter-Wood shoes, but the outpouring of grief today is pretty impressive. Then again, it's not everyday a living legend passes from our midst.

Something incredible happened with this week's Box Office Poll. Not only did the clear blockbuster favorite for the week not take the top prize, it was pretty much crushed by the second place winner. I don't get it either. Did the controversy really deter so many people? Enough vagaries! More to come after the break. Read more...