District 9, which cost $30 million to make, earned the top spot at the box office last weekend with $37 million.  Here’s the story behind this surprise hit and most-tweeted topic on Friday (la dee da) via Nikke Finke:

District 9 director Neill Blomkamp was supposed to be Peter Jackson’s helmer on Halo, which went down in flames. But Peter and his partner Fran Walsh kept Neill in New Zealand to develop his short film, Alive In Joburg. Jackson then turned it into a hard-cover faux graphic novel. That book went to Peter’s longtime manager Ken Kamins to arrange financing and set it up as a film. Ken made the decision to go indie, [...].  The result is not just another Amy Pascal pic starring Adam or Will but, according to the 88% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, an imaginative, creative, cutting-edge pic made outside the studio system.

That’s right.  Another graphic-novel-turned-movie.  Oh well, at least it wasn’t a gum wrapper or a board game.

G.I. Joe, predictably dropped about 60% in its second week to take the #2 spot with $22.5 million.  The Time Traveler’s Wife took third place with a disappointing $19.2 million weekend (the studio expected at least $25 million).

Among the other films opening last weekend, The Goods opened at #6 with $5.35 million.  Bandslam took 13th place with $2.25 million, earning only $1,061 per screen (ha ha).   Ponyo opened at #9 with $3.5 million.  It Might Get Loud made $14,429 per screen in limited release.  (full top 10 below)

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If you’re ever really stoned or on mushrooms and need a mind blower, Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away or Princess Mononoke will do the trick.  His latest is called Ponyo (Japanese title: Gake no ue no Ponyo), and this is the trailer for the English version.

The film was inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale “The Littler Mermaid” and centers on a 5-year-old boy (Frankie Jonas) and his relationship with a goldfish princess named Ponyo (Noah Cyrus) who longs to become human.  Making up the English language voice cast are Noah Cyrus, Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Cloris Leachman, Liam Neeson, Lily Tomlin, Betty White and Frankie Jonas. [RopeofSilicon]

Sources say the Japanese version will be out on DVD with English subtitles in July, a month before the English-language version.  I urge everyone to watch the Japanese version, because the last thing we need is to reward Disney for pimping out the younger, unfamous siblings of both Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers.  Use the child actors you have, don’t create more.  It’s dangerous. Every current child actor is a potential future wife beater, murderer, or Scientologist. Or worse (*shudder*), Danny Masterson.

[Available in HD at Apple]

Before I tell you about Hayao Miyazaki’s latest, I feel I should tell you that I don’t really like anime and I find anime dorks as strange and repellant as people who listen to techno when they’re not in a club and on ecstasy. That said, Miyazaki’s other films, Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away, are pretty mindblowing.  And now his latest, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (trailer below) is set for an August 14th release.

The film was inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale “The Littler Mermaid” and is described as an animated adventure centered on a 5-year-old boy (Frankie Jonas) and his relationship with a goldfish princess named Ponyo (Noah Cyrus) who longs to become human.  Making up the English language voice cast are Noah Cyrus, Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Cloris Leachman, Liam Neeson, Lily Tomlin, Betty White and Frankie Jonas. [RopeofSilicon]

And yes, that cast inludes the unfamous siblings of both Miley Cyrus and the Jonas brothers.  No, that’s great, let’s make them big stars.  Ooh, and make sure they have to do as little work for it as possible.  That’s just what the world needs, another Jim Belushi or a Kevin Farley.
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