Paramount’s policy of restricting advance screenings of “G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra” to friendly fanboy reviewers seems to have worked on opening day yesterday. Early estimates indicate it took in around $22 million and appears to be headed for a $55-$60 million weekend. The second weekend, of course, will tell whether Paramount and its financial partners have a prayer of recouping the reported $175 million pricetag (plus promotional costs) for this critically reviled actioner and whether it will launch a franchise. In the place position, Nora Ephron scored her first hit since 1998’s “You’ve Got Mail” with “Julie & Julia,” which Sony claims cost an economical $37 million and received beaucoup free publicity (especially in the New York Times). In line with forecasts, it’s expected to finish the weekend with around $20 million based on early numbers. The bad news keeps ‘a-coming for Universal, with last week’s No. 1 “Funny People” plummeting a reported 72 percent Friday to Friday and a humiliating $7.5 million predicted for the weekend for the allegedly $70M Judd Apatow project starring Adam Sandler. The studio is also distributing for Rogue the flick that opened in seventh place on its way to something like a $5.5M weekend, the vastly less expensive “A Perfect Getaway” with the cost-effective Steve Zahn. Fox Searchlight’s ultra-conservative rollout of critical favorite “(500) Days of Summer” (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, another indie stock player who stars in this, is also in “G.I. Joe”) finally landed in the top 10 as it expanded past the 800-venue wide opening benchmark, and is expected to take in around $4.2M from Friday through Sunday night.