Given its strong opening day of $14.2 million and a Saturday take of $12.6 million, it's hardly surprising to hear that District 9 rounded the weekend on track to make $37 million by Sunday's end, meaning that the alien-centric film has already surpassed its budget costs by $7 million.

According to Deadline Hollywood Daily, the results surpassed rival studios' expectations of the film, mainly due to word-of-mouth marketing from producer Peter Jackson, director Neill Blomkamp and the rest of the District 9 team.

In second place, down from the top spot was G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra. The action movie based on the popular toy franchise pulled in 22.5 million dollars over the weekend.

New release The Time Traveler's Wife, starring Rachel McAdams as the wife of a man with a genetic anomaly that means he moves back and forward through time involuntarily, earned the number three spot, with box office receipts of 19.2 million dollars.