Joburg Mojo: $37 mil opening for District 9

Answering the question we posed a couple of weeks ago, Nikki Finke is reporting Sony’s weekend estimates of $37 mil for District 9, beyond even the best expectations.

“…a great result considering the pic’s negative cost is only $30M. Then again, producer Peter Jackson’s name means so much to aged 18-49 moviegoers. Comic-Con geeks and movie critic geezers loved it. It was the #1 most tweeted topic Friday night. And Marc Weinstock’s viral marketing campaign for a year bore no Sony/Tri-Star logo on purpose so it wouldn’t have a big studio’s PR machine feel to it. (As if the audience had organically discovered the pic themselves.)”

…Here’s how it went down: 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.

Craig Kennedy at Living in Cinema found Alive in Joburg on youtube, so I’ve relocated it here.

[UPDATE: Incidentally, District 9 leaps into the IMDb Top 250 this weekend, landing on its lobstery feet at #78. That’s 26 slots higher than Star Trek, currently at 108. UPDATE 2: Now jumping to #35.]