Bruno Helps Himself to Weekend Box Office Win

July 12, 2009

Universal's Bruno surprised no one by strutting away with an easy weekend box office win to the tune of an estimated $30.4 million.

The win is not sugarcoated for the flamboyant fashionista. A big $14.2 million opening on Friday dropped 39% into Saturday and again into Sunday. With Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince poised to strike, Bruno's anticipated run to $100 million may be cut short by the boy wizard.

The other newcomer this past weekend, I Love You, Beth Cooper with Hayden Panettiere, flailed to an unimpressive $5 million opening and the number 7 spot overall. Fox will have to hope for strong DVD and Blu-ray business for additional Beth Cooper revenue.

The rest of the field remained intact from last weekend with Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs narrowly topping Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, while comedies The Proposal and The Hangover continue to impress with minimal drop-off.

The complete box office results for July 10-12 are as follows (click linked titles to read our review):

• 1. Bruno: $30.4m
• 2. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs: $28.5m
• 3. Transformers Revenge of the Fallen: $24.2m
• 4. Public Enemies: $14.1m
• 5. The Proposal: $10.5m
• 6. The Hangover: $9.9m
• 7. I Love You, Beth Cooper: $5m
• 8. Up: $4.7m
• 9. My Sister's Keeper: $4.2m
• 10. Taking of Pelham 1 2 3: $1.6m

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince takes flight on Wednesday next week and will absolutely destroy all competition with a flick of its magic wand. The only question is whether Potter can challenge the huge five-day opening numbers put up by Transformers 2 in June.

Aside from an extremely limited release of 500 Days of Summer, all other films have wisely steered clear of Potter's opening.