Handicapping: Just How Well With 'District 9' Do This Weekend?

Incredible buzz at San Diego Comic-Con. Mostly glowing reviews since Comic-Con. And the serious-clout imprint of Peter Jackson as producer.

It would be hard for the sci-fi social satire "District 9" to have much more going for it, as it heads into its debut weekend today.

Plus, it's competition as the box office this weekend is a counterprogrammed sci-fi romance picture ("The Time Traveler's Wife") and an animation import ("Ponyo"). And if "G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra" stumbles at all, "District 9" could readily own the weekend. As long, that is, as filmgoers are willing to surrender their minimal brain-wave activity of "G.I. Joe" for the much more deeply involving "District 9."

A few things are for sure: South African-born first-time director Neill Blomkamp has now been marked as a rising force. And his stars -- particularly Sharlto Copley -- stand to quickly become household faces, if not household names.

Here is "Alive in Joburg" (the spelling now accepted), the short film upon which "District 9" is based:

Now, all that said, how much do you think "District 9" will gross at the North American box office this weekend? You're invited to vote below: