It's Tyler Perry's Weekend—Again

Mogul's I Can Do Bad All By Myself opens with estimated $24 million; Sorority Row, Whiteout suffer scary debuts

Tim Burton's 9 didn't have a chance at dominating the weekend box office—not against the mogul whose name really counts: Tyler Perry.

The latest Perry-branded dramedy, I Can Do Bad All By Myself, led all films with a $24 million Friday-Sunday take, estimates showed. The Burton-produced CGI tale 9, which opened Wednesday, was second with $10.9 million.

Also finishing in second—in advance ticket sales—was New Moon, which, per Fandango, headed into the weekend as its top seller after I Can Do Bad All By Myself.

Drilling down into the standings—and, yes, down is where you'll find Sorority Row and Whiteout:

• As those of you counting down the hours, minutes and seconds well know, New Moon opens in November. More than two months from now. The movie's advance-ticket sales strength—Fandango said it accounted for one-fifth of all sales—would seem to confirm extreme interest in the Twilight sequel. And profound disinterest in any of this weekend's movies not associated with Tyler Perry. (E! Entertainment and Fandango are both owned by Comcast.)

• The only way Perry's weekend looks bad is if you compare him to himself. While I Can Do Bad All By Myself's debut is his third biggest as director, it fell about $17 million short of matching his last hit, Madea Goes to Jail, which benefited from that other magic box office name: Madea.

• After five days in release, 9's overall take is estimated to stand at $15.3 million—not bad for a feel-bad sci-fi tale, or a movie that only reputedly cost $33 million.

• Sorority Row ($5.3 million) and Whiteout ($5.1 million) were the weekend's two new horror movies. And while it appears both tanked, only one of them did. The other bombed.

• Sorority Row reputedly cost just $16 million, and doesn't star anybody bigger than The Hills' Audrina Patridge—it tanked. Whiteout reputedly cost $40 million and stars Kate Beckinsale—it bombed.

• Quentin Tarantino's and Brad Pitt's Inglourious Basterds kept on keeping on, falling only one place, to third, taking in another $6.5 million and upping its overall gross to $104.3 million.

• The awful reviews still haven't caught up to Sandra Bullock's All About Steve ($5.8 million), which saw business drop less than 50 percent from opening weekend.

• Four films left the Top 10: G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, The Time Traveler's Wife, Halloween 2 and Extract. Only one departed before topping its budget. And the odd film out was not the blink-and-you-missed-it Extract. (Its $8.7 million, two-weekend take just did clear its $8 million budget.)

• G.I. Joe was the upside-down film. Its hefty $144.3 million haul was no match for its superhefty $175 million budget. Fortunately for Paramount, G.I. Joe translated to a $283.8 million worldwide gross, per Box Office Mojo stats. 

Here's a look at the weekend's top-grossing films based on Friday-Sunday estimates as compiled by Exhibitor Relations:

1. Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself, $24 million
2. 9, $10.9 million
3. Inglourious Basterds, $6.5 million 
4. All About Steve, $5.8 million
5. The Final Destination, $5.5 million
6. Sorority Row, $5.3 million
7. Whiteout, $5.1 million
8. District 9, $3.6 million
9. Julie & Julia, $3.3 million
10. Gamer, $3.2 million

(Originally published Sept. 13, 2009, at 9:08 a.m. PT)