Tyler Perry's 'I Can Do Bad All By Myself,' '9' debut on weekend movie chart Sept. 11-13

September 13, 9:08 PMAtlanta Movies ExaminerRyan McNally

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Tyler Perry’s latest opened to the best reviews of his career, and the animated pic 9 debuted well, but Brad Pitt & Co. still had enough mojo to maintain Inglourious Basterds’ stranglehold on the No. 1 spot on the AME weekend movie chart**. Basterds fell just one slot at the box office, to No. 3, while critics ranked it No. 2 at Rotten Tomatoes among the box office Top 20. Meanwhile, word of mouth continues to be strong, with Basterds scoring an 8.6 among IMDB users, tied for No. 1 with District 9.

The highest AME chart debut this week belonged to 9, the post-apocalyptic animated film based on the Oscar-winning 2005 short of the same name. Critics’ reviews and audience response were slightly above average, with the pic charting at No. 8 at Rotten Tomatoes and No. 10 at IMDB. Box office was respectable, with 9 grossing $10.9 million to rank No. 2 for the weekend. In a lackluster week for films, that was good enough for the No. 3 slot on the AME chart.

I Can Do Bad All By Myself did some good in its opening weekend, raking in $24 million en route to another box office victory for Atlanta native Perry. More important, critical response was impressive, with the film scoring a 66 at Metacritic, good for No. 7. Unfortunately, audience reaction didn’t keep pace, with Perry’s latest scoring only a 3.1 at IMDB, dead last among the B.O. Top 20.

At least Perry’s latest hit the Top 10 on the AME chart, which is more than can be said for the heavily hyped horror pic Sorority Row. As expected, critics did some serious hazing, with the pic tallying a lowly 26 at Metacritic (No. 19). But audiences were also unwilling to give the gals a bid, scoring the pic a frightful 6.1 at IMDB (No. 13) en route to a disappointing $5.3 bow in theaters (No. 6).

Elsewhere, Kate Beckinsale may be wishing she could erase Whiteout from her resume after the action thriller’s weak debut. Its single-digit tomatometer score topped only the abysmal All About Steve, and audiences were similarly frosty (6.0 IMDB, No. 14). The pic was also left in the cold at the box office, grossing less than $2K per theater.

Finally, the documentary The September Issue, which centers on legendary Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, made a fashionable debut in the B.O. Top 20, expanding to 111 screens and maintaining a $6,600 per-theater average. Critics raved to the tune of an 82 tomatometer score (No. 5), but the jury is still out on audience word of mouth (6.9 IMDB, No. 11). Stay tuned …

The AME weekend movie chart for Sept. 11-13, 2009:

1) Inglourious Basterds (1)

2) District 9 (2)

3) 9 (NR)

4T) (500) Days of Summer (5)

4T) Julie & Julia (3T)

6) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (7)

7T) The Hangover (9)

7T) I Can Do Bad All By Myself (NR)

9) Extract (8)

10) The Time Traveler’s Wife (10T)

Related Articles:
1) Summer 2009 movie recap: The top 10 films of the season, from Star Trek to Inglourious Basterds
2) Big Fan review: Patton Oswalt as obsesssed sports fan
3) Extract, All About Steve debut; Inglourious Basterds triumphs on Labor Day weekend movie chart

**Tired of reading about the latest dumb action flick, lame gross-out comedy or played-out torture porn horror pic that took home the box office crown? Wish the media balanced screaming headlines about box office winners with more stories about “the top reviewed films” or the “films audiences loved the most”?

I’m with ya. And that’s why I’ve devised a new ranking system (see list above) that combines critics’ reviews, audience response and, yes, box office to deliver a comprehensive list of what’s hot in theaters in each weekend. (The previous week’s chart position is listed in parentheses after the film title.)