G.I. Joe: Retaliation Set For Big Weekend After $11 Million on Thursday

It looks like the reshoots and 3-D upconversion might help G.I. Joe: Retaliation exceed expectations, as the troubled production has finally made its way to theaters and surprised analysts with an $11 million Thursday. The movie opened light on Wednesday and made around $2.25 million, meaning it goes into the weekend proper with a decent amount already in the bank. Wednesday's screenings went well, with a CinemaScore of A- (that's from moviegoers) in spite of a paltry 31% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Of course, the film's biggest competition this weekend comes in the form of The Host, a sci-fi movie from the writer of The Twilight Saga, which scored a 9% on Rotten Tomatoes. No CinemaScore is available yet for The Host, since that information is gleaned from polls taken during the first two days of commercial release. "A little more than we expected. And tracking finished up great," a Paramount exec told Deadline about G.I. Joe. "Maybe we do have a shot at $50 million in the U.S."