I Can Do Bad All By Myself is Perry’s fifth film to open at #1 (the second this year) and was also the third largest opening of his career. Bad debuted to $23.4M, very close to my $25M prediction. This is the first time I’ve predicted a Tyler Perry film correctly. I usually have a difficult time with him but I guess the stars aligned for me this weekend. Bad made enough to be Perry’s third best opening behind this year’s Madea Goes to Jail ($41M) and 2006’s Madea’s Family Reunion ($30M).

I Can Do Bad stars Taraji P. Henson as a selfish woman who must learn to care about others after taking custody of three children and was adapted from his play of the same name. Perry’s fanbase of African-American women proved their loyalty to the filmmaker once again and it seems like there is no slowing him down. Bad is also now the 9^th largest opening in the month of September. Take a look.

 

Opening in second place was animated adventure film, 9, with $10.7M, on target with my $11M forecast. The film opened on Wednesday 9/9/09 and has taken in $15.3M over the 5 day span. This was a solid opening for the film, especially since it is PG-13 and not meant for young children. Reviews have been mixed (read my review here) because of the storyline, but all critics do agree that the film is visually astonishing. Look for 9 to have some legs in the weeks ahead and make it to about $45M by the end of its run.

Coming on the heels of two horror films, The Final Destination and Halloween 2, it seems audiences weren’t interested in another slasher flick. Sorority Row opened in 6^th place with a dismal $5.1M in line with my $5M projection. Row looks cheesy as hell and audiences knew to avoid this stinker. Sorority Row will be lucky to make it to $12M total.

The weekend’s last new release was the poorly reviewed thriller, Whiteout, starring Kate Beckinsale. The film opened in 7^th place to a measly $4.9M, even lower than my $7M guess. Based on the icy reception from critics, audiences chose to turn the cold shoulder to the Antarctica based chiller. The marketing campaign also wasn’t very strong and I believe Whiteout would’ve fared better had it been released during the winter; perhaps the slow month of January.

Among holdovers, Sandra Bullock’s latest, All About Steve, dropped 48% to collect another $5.8M exactly as I predicted. Steve’s total now stands at a miserable $21.8M after 10 days; less than the opening weekend of Bullock’s summer hit, The Proposal, which opened to $33.6M. It appears to be game over for Gerard Butler’s action film, Gamer. The film fell from 4^th to 10^th place, collecting $3.1M, very close to my $3.2M call. To see the rest of the top 10 and how my other predictions for the weekend fared, check out the chart below.

Be sure to come back Thursday for my predictions for this weekend’s releases; Love Happens, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, The Informant and Jennifer’s Body.

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