Julia Roberts has proved box office gold yet again with her new biopic Erin Brockovich (directed by Steven Soderbergh), which took $28.2 in the US in its opening weekend, knocking Mission To Mars off the top slot. A delighted Nikki Rocco, Universal's president of distribution, said, "From the very first cut we saw, we knew we had an amazing story and we could just watch it play."
Roberts has already received critical acclaim for the role, based on the true story of blue-collar research assistant Erin Brockovich, who helped prove a legal case against a large corporation whose manufacturing processes contributed to outbreaks of cancer in her small town.