Weekend Movie Box Office Update: August 21 - August 27, 2009

Weekend Movie Box Office Update
August 21 - August 27, 2009

For more information, access the complete chart on Variety.com.

1. "Inglourious Basterds": In German-occupied France, Shosanna Dreyfus witnesses the execution of her family at the hand of Nazi Colonel Hans Landa. Shosanna narrowly escapes and flees to Paris, where she forges a new identity as the owner and operator of a cinema. Elsewhere in Europe, Lieutenant Aldo Raine organizes a group of Jewish soldiers to engage in targeted acts of retribution. Known to their enemy as "The Basterds," Raine's squad joins German actress and undercover agent Bridget Von Hammersmark on a mission to take down the leaders of The Third Reich. Fates converge under a cinema marquee, where Shosanna is poised to carry out a revenge plan of her own. Inglourious Basterds is a Weinstein Co. (in U.S.)/Universal Pictures Intl. (foreign) release of A Band Apart (U.S.)/Zehnte Babelsberg (Germany) production. Produced by Lawrence Bender. Executive producers, Erica Steinberg, Lloyd Phillips, Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein. Co-producers, Henning Molfenter, Carl L. Woebcken, Christoph Fisser. Inglourious Basterds is directed and written by Quentin Tarantino. The film stars Brad Pitt, Eli Roth, Mike Myers, Michael Fassbenderr, Diane Kruger, Daniel Bruhl, Til Schweiger, Melanie Laurent, B.J. Novak and Samm Levine. Inglourious Basterds opened in the US August 21, 2009

2. "District 9" depicts a fictional world where extraterrestrials have become refugees in South Africa. A Sony Pictures Entertainment (in North America) release of a Peter Jackson presentation in association with TriStar Pictures and Block/Hanson of a WingNut Films (New Zealand) production. District 9 is directed by Neill Blomkamp and features a screenplay by Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell. The film stars Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope, David James, Vanessa Haywood, Mandla Gaduka, Kenneth Nkosi, Eugene Khumbanyiwa, Louis Minnaar, William Allen Young. District 9 opened in the US August 14, 2009.

3. "G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra" is an American live-action film adaptation of the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toy franchise. The film is directed by Stephen Sommers, produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura and co-written by Stuart Beattie, based on a 1998 screenplay by John Paul Kay. G.I. Joe features an ensemble cast based on the various characters of the franchise. Filming took place in Downey, California and Prague's Barrandov Studios. The film was released on August 5th, 2009, in France and Belgium, August 6th in United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong, and August 7th in the United States and other English-speaking countries.

4. "The Time Traveler's Wife" is based on the best-selling book about a love that transcends time. Clare has been in love with Henry her entire life. She believes they are destined to be together, even though she never knows when they will be separated: Henry is a time traveler-cursed with a rare genetic anomaly that causes him to live his life on a shifting timeline, skipping back and forth through his lifespan with no control. Despite the fact that Henry's travels force them apart with no warning, Clare desperately tries to build a life with her one true love. The film is a Warner Bros. release of a New Line Cinema presentation of a Plan B/Nick Wechsler production. Produced by Wechsler, Dede Gardner. Executive producers, Brad Pitt, Richard Brener, Michele Weiss, Justis Greene. Co-producer, Kristin Hahn. The Time Traveler's Wife is directed by Robert Schwentke. and features a screenplay by Bruce Joel Rubin, based on the novel by Audrey Niffenegger. The film stars Rachel McAdams, Eric Bana, Arliss Howard, Ron Livingston and Stephen Tobolowsky. The Time Traveler's Wife opened in the US August 14, 2009.

5. Adapted from two best-selling memoirs, Julie Powell's Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously, and Julia Child's My Life in France, Nora Ephron's film, "Julie & Julia" is the first major motion picture to be based on a blog. The film follows Powell, a temp secretary who spends one year attempting to cook every recipe in Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Intertwined with Powell's story, Child's follows her and her husband, Paul's life in 1940s and 1950s Paris while he was working as a foreign diplomat. In August 2002, Powell started documenting online her daily experiences cooking each of the 524 recipes in Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and she later began reworking that blog, The Julie/Julia Project, into a book, Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen (Little, Brown, 2005). The paperback was retitled Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously (Back Bay Books, 2006). The film stars Meryl Streep as Julia Child, Amy Adams as Julie Powell, Stanley Tucci as Paul Child, Chris Messina as Eric Powell, Linda Emond as Simone "Simca" Beck, Jane Lynch as Julia Child's sister, Mary Lynn Rajskub as Helen, Powell's best friend, Vanessa Ferlito as Cassie, and Casey Wilson as Regina. Julie & Julia opened in the US August 7, 2009.