-LRB- Entertainment Weekly -RRB- -- In what feels like a box-office weekend from `` The Twilight Zone , '' a low-budget and critically acclaimed movie with no stars and an unknown director managed to top the charts . `` District 9 , '' the alien action pic produced by Peter Jackson , crushed the competition grossing $ 37 million . `` District 9 , '' the alien action pic produced by Peter Jackson and directed by the 29-year-old Neill Blomkamp ? who shot the film in Johannesburg , South Africa , of all places -- crushed the competition by grossing $ 37 million , according to early estimates . Audiences clearly enjoyed what they saw too : `` District 9 '' has already soared to No. 78 on IMDb 's top 250 movies list , although it 'll obviously drop some as the initial euphoria wears off . Second place went to `` G.I. Joe : The Rise of Cobra , '' which dropped 59 percent in its second weekend but still managed to recruit $ 22.5 million . The $ 175 million action movie should pass $ 100 million domestically by Monday . `` The Time Traveler 's Wife '' materialized into third place with $ 19.2 million in its debut weekend , proving that there is a market for watching Eric Bana disappear . Rounding out the top 5 were `` Julie & Julia '' -LRB- No. 4 with $ 12.4 million -RRB- and `` G-Force '' -LRB- No. 5 with $ 6.9 million -RRB- , respectively . Also opening wide was a trio of movies that failed to make a significant dent on the box office . `` The Goods : Live Hard , Sell Hard , '' a cars-salesmen comedy starring Jeremy Piven , barely registered on the mercury thermometer by earning $ 5.4 million . `` Ponyo , '' the 10th film by Japan 's animation auteur Hayao Miyazaki , grossed $ 3.5 million on 927 screens . While that amount represents Miyazaki 's best opening weekend in America , it 's still fish feed compared to `` Ponyo 's '' worldwide gross of $ 187 million . The music comedy `` Bandslam '' wo n't be getting any requests for encores after making only $ 2.3 million from more than 2,000 screens ? even the promise of seeing the `` Taylor Lautner takes off his shirt '' trailer of The `` Twilight '' Saga : New Moon could n't save the Vanessa Hudgens movie . In limited release , the Jimmy Page/The Edge/Jack White music documentary `` It Might Get Loud '' opened promisingly , grossing $ 101,000 from just seven theaters . And `` 500 Days of Summer '' continues to cement its title as `` the indie breakout of the summer '' by charming $ 3 million more from moviegoers , bringing its total to $ 18 million so far . CLICK HERE to Try 2 RISK FREE issues of Entertainment Weekly