Jackson-backed film opens at No1

With a comparatively low budget of US$30 million (NZ$44m) and little marketing, the Peter Jackson-produced sci-fi movie District 9 has opened at No 1 at the United States box office.

The film, shot in Johannesburg and Wellington, was ahead of The Time Traveller's Wife at No 2, and GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra, at No 3 which cost US$175 million to make.

District 9 made $14.2 million when it opened in the US on Friday and was expected to have made at least US$30 million by today. The film has been buoyed by largely positive reviews, including The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Time, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone, USA Today, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter making it one of the best reviewed films released this year. It opened in New Zealand on Thursday.

Box office figures will be issued tomorrow, but it is expected to be in the top five at the New Zealand box office.

The movie is directed and co-written by 29-year-old South African Neill Blomkamp, who originally came to Wellington to direct the abandoned sci-fi film Halo for Jackson.

Most of the visual effects were done by Weta Digital and Weta Workshop in Wellington. A small number of scenes were also shot at Jackson's Miramar studios.

- © Fairfax NZ News