Days], she was a little heartbroken and I felt like I needed to remedy that." Release The film made its debut at the 25th Sundance Film Festival. It proved a huge success and received a standing ovation from festival crowds upon screening. In Europe, 500 Days of Summer premiered in Switzerland as the opening film of the 62nd Locarno Film Festival. Filmed independently, it was picked up for distribution by Fox Searchlight Pictures and opened in the United States and Canada on July 17, 2009, later expanding to wide release on August 7, 2009. It was later also released on September 2, 2009, in Ireland and the United Kingdom, and opened in Australia on September 17, 2009. Box office Upon the film's initial limited release in the U.S, it was expected to become the "breakout indie hit of the summer". By September 8, the film had taken in $1.9 million from 318 screens in the United Kingdom. This was regarded as a successful five-day opening by Fox Searchlight, earning around half as much as the science-fiction blockbuster District 9, which took in $3.5 million. The film ended up grossing $32.4 million in the United States and Canada and $60.7 million worldwide. Reception Critical response On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 85% based on 236 reviews, with an average rating of 7.6/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A clever, offbeat romantic comedy, 500 Days of Summer is refreshingly honest and utterly charming." At the website's year-end "Golden Tomato Awards", which honored the best reviewed films of 2009, the film placed second in the romantic category. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 76 out of 100 based on 36 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four stars out of four, describing the film as "a delightful comedy, alive with invention". He particularly praised the strong performances of Gordon-Levitt and Deschanel and summarized his review by adding, "Here is a rare movie that begins by telling us how it will end and is about how the hero has no idea why". Premiere also awarded the film four stars out of four, stating "Much like the actual summer (the season, not the character), we never wanted it to end". Michael Ordoña of the Los Angeles Times gave a positive review. He wrote, "500 Days of Summer is something