With only hours to go before Hollywood’s golden season draws to a close, I thought it was a good time to do the post-mortem on the summer of 2009.  By now you may have heard that this summer was Hollywood’s most-profitable ever with grosses topping $4.3 billion. But has it felt like the biggest summer ever?  Not really.  Blockbusters like “Transformers 2″ and “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” aside, 2009 was a season of expensive movies that didn’t live up to the hype and cheap movies that performed above all expectations.  Follow me now into the murky world of box office number crunching to see just how huge Hollywood’s hugest summer really was.

In terms of timeline, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra: The Video Game takes place immediately after the recently released movie and begins with the Baroness being teleported out of GI Joe custody via Cobra’s newest weapon, the MASS device, a teleportation tool to increase troop movement across the globe, and find that teammates Heavy Duty and Ripcord were also kidnapped during the Baroness’ escape. Starting with Duke and Scarlett, you begin searching for your missing teammates while Breaker, Data Frame, and Dial-Tone try to unravel how the MASS device works back at the PIT (GI Joe’s base of operations) and how GI Joe can remove this military advantage from Cobra’s hands. More after the jump:

It’s all good news for director Neill Blomkamp’s once-mysterious sci-fi movie “District 9″.  The film, produced by Peter Jackson, rounded out its first three days with a remarkable $37 million from 3,049 dates.  While that total certainly isn’t anywhere near the top weekends of the summer, when the film’s budget of $30 million is weighed along with the fact that most Americans had never heard of either Blomkamp or “District 9″ a couple of weeks ago, the term ‘remarkable’ may even be an understatement.

In the end, I guess it all comes down to nostalgia.  If you played with G.I. Joes or Transformers and watched their Saturday morning cartoon shows, then a movie works off your nostalgia and hopefully will be the cinematic equivalent of Frosted Mini-Wheats.  I was never excited for those films because they weren’t really a part of my childhood.  Even “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” I kind of left behind.

But then there are Legos.  And they’re getting a movie.  And I get to become a hypocrite.  Hit the jump to build rose-tinted glasses.

While some wondered how much “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” would make opening weekend, the film made over $56 million domestically and $44 million internationally. What that means is…it’s time to start thinking about a sequel!

And according to the LA Times article, Paramount’s Vice Chairman Rob Moore has confirmed that a sequel will soon go into development. What that really means is, if the film continues to perform at the box office, we’ll hear about a script being commissioned and a release date in 2011 or 2012 being picked. So I’d say a few more great weekends and it’s a done deal. With the film costing a reported $175 million to make plus marketing costs, it’s going to have to make at least $300 million before a sequel is greenlit. While some had a lot of problems with “G.I. Joe”, I wasn’t one of them. I’d love to see a sequel made. More as we get it.

Despite losing some steam between Friday and Saturday, “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cora” easily dominated the weekend with an estimated domestic take of $56.2 million and another $44 million from international markets.  That’s the good news for fans of the Real American Hero.  The bad news is that this week is as good as it gets for “Joe”…

In this, the summer of diminishing expectations, my hopes for Paramount’s pricey “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” were not very high. But it turns out that I need not have feared for the real American hero. “GI Joe” opened to an impressive $22.3 million from 4,007 locations - an August record for non-sequels. Sony’s anti-Joe option, “Julie & Julia”, came in second with $6.5 million from 2,975 venues while “Funny People”, last week’s number one movie, fell a disturbing 70% to number four.  It could be worse.  The latest from director Judd Apatow could have ended up down at number seven like the new Rogue thriller “Perfect Getaway”.  Check back tomorrow to see how much sadder things get for the funny folk…

As you may have already noticed by the abundance of video interviews on Collider, last night I covered a special “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” screening at Mann’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood. While there, I landed tons of video interviews with the cast and producers of the movie. Since I already talked to Channing Tatum about “G.I. Joe” on more than one occasion, I decided to use my time to talk about other projects. So after the jump you can hear Channing talk about his next film “Dear John” and the project he’s about to start…a Roman Empire film called “The Eagle of the Ninth”. If you haven’t heard about that one yet, it’s going to be directed by Kevin Macdonald (”The Last King of Scotland”, “State of Play”). What I’m trying to say is…it’s a film you should be excited for. Watch the interview after the jump:

Last night I covered the special “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” screening at Mann’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood. While there I was able to interview tons of the cast on the red carpet and the interview you’re about to watch is with the beautiful Rachel Nichols.

During our interview she talked about being in “Star Trek” this summer, the promotional tour for “G.I. Joe”, her next film “Meskada” with Nick Stahl, and she continued Marlon Wayans conversation about Japanese bathrooms. Seriously. Of course we talked about other subjects; those are just some of the highlights. Take a look after the jump:

Last night I covered a special “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” screening at Mann’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood. While there I was able to interview tons of people on the red carpet and rather than divide up these three interviews into separate articles, I’m posting all them here, in one place. So after the jump you can see Byung-hun Lee (Storm Shadow) talk about making “G.I. Joe”, screenwriter Stuart Beattie talk about his directorial debut “Tomorrow, When the World Began”, and Marlon Wayans (Ripcord) talk more about Japanese bathrooms and what character he might want to join the “Joe” team in the sequel. Take a look:

Just a few hours ago I was at Mann’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood for a special screening of “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra”. While it wasn’t called a premiere, it had all the spectacle of one, as thousands of people were screaming at the stars and the cast and filmmakers walked a huge red carpet.

Anyway, while there I managed to get an interview with Brian Goldner, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hasbro. With so many projects in development at Universal, I got him to give me updates on “Stretch Armstrong”, “Candy Land”, “Monopoly”, “Battleship”, and a lot more. So if you’re curious how Hasbro is planning to bring their board games to movie screens, you’re going to want to watch this interview. Take a look after the jump:

A few hours ago I was standing on the red carpet in front of the famous Chinese Theater in Hollywood. I was there to cover a special screening of “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra”. While it wasn’t an official premiere, it felt like one, as there were press everywhere and thousands of screaming fans.

Anyway, I managed to get tons of video interviews and the one you’re about to watch is with Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. During the interview, Adewale talks about playing Heavy Duty in “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra”, his desire to play Black Panther, and I ask if he’d be willing to do an episode of “Lost” in its final season. Watch what he said after the jump:

At tonight’s special “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” screening at the famous Chinese Theater in Hollywood, I was able to interview tons of the cast and some of the producers that brought “G.I. Joe” to the screen. The interview you’re about to watch is with one of those producers, Bob Ducsay.

During our interview, he talks about making “G.I. Joe” and also tells us what’s up with “Magic Kingdom For Sale”, a big budget movie that’s been in development at Universal. He also briefly talks “Tarzan”. Take a look after the jump:

With “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” getting released this Friday, it’s time for my last interview and it’s with Rachel Nichols (Scarlett) and Sienna Miller (Baroness). The interview was done a few days ago at the New York City press junket and we talked about PSA’s, what they think about the posters, their fight scenes, working with director Stephen Sommers, and touring the world to help promote the movie. Take a look after the jump:

I think “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” is going to surprise a lot of you this weekend. That’s because the movie is just flat out fun. If you go in wanting to have a good time and can channel your inner kid, you’re going to have a blast watching director Stephen Sommer’s newest movie. If I was ten year’s old, I think “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” would be the greatest movie ever. As it stands, I’m far older than that, but I still think the movie is fantastic.

Anyway, a few days ago I attended the New York City press junket for “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra”. While there I got to speak with director Stephen Sommers, producer Lorenzo de Bonaventura, and a few of the cast. The interview after the jump is with Channing Tatum and Marlon Wayans. During our interview we talked about the lack of Public Service Announcements (PSA’s), the online buzz, the worldwide tour they’ve been on, and the toilet’s of Japan. I’m not kidding about that last part. Take a look:

A few days ago I attended the New York City press junket for “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra”. While there, I got to speak with some of the cast, director Stephen Sommers and producer Lorenzo de Bonaventura. While I’ve already spoken to Lorenzo a lot about “G.I. Joe” and “Transformers“, you can never go wrong asking a few more questions as he producers a lot of other movies.

So after the first few questions on “G.I. Joe” and “Giant Robots That Like to Punch Each Other in the Face”, I asked him about some of his upcoming projects and he told me the status on Jack Ryan, “Red”, and also why he wanted to make an “Asteroids” movie. Take a look after the jump: