Boffus Boxoffum!
Bruno was so July 11th. This weekend was all about taking refuge from sweltering summer temperatures with a bucket of popcorn and Hermione's (technically legal) doability. How much did Harry & Co. manage to conjure up after its five-day opening? Clickus Continuum to find out!
1. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Gross: $159,662,000 (5-day)
Screens: 4,325 (PSA: $18,376)
Weeks: 1
In the end, it lacked a pair of bickering, racist-caricature owls to push it past Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen's $201 million take. But the latest chapter in the adventures of England's boy wizard and friends still soared to new heights, racking up $20 million more than predecessor Order of the Phoenix did two summers ago, and earning its former skivvy-model costar Freddie Stroma legions of new fans, gasping in awe at the massive Nimbus 1700 handle standing at spectacular attention between his Quidditch keeper's legs.
2. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Gross: $17,700,000 (cume: $152,005,000)
Screens: 3,817 (PSA: $4,637)
Weeks: 2 (Change: -35.9%)
3. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Gross: $13,750,000 (cume: $363,867,000)
Screens: 3,857 (PSA: $3,565)
Weeks: 4 (Change: -43.2%)
Both of these bona fide blockbusters continue to pull in impressive numbers, suggesting the kind of repeat-business that comes when weary parents dump their kids off at the multiplex for a double-feature ("But I don't want to see both, dad!" "Tough."), picking up their squinty-eyed brood six hours later after a satisfying and peaceful day on the links.
4. Bruno
Gross: $8,374,000 (cume: $49,588,000)
Screens: 2,759 (PSA: $3,035)
Weeks: 2 (Change: -72.7%)
You know how you can tell when your movie has failed to harness the winds of zeitgeist? When you ask your friend, "Have you seen the Bruno movie?" and he responds, "Bruce Willis made a musical?!"
5. The Hangover
Gross: $8,315,000 (cume: $235,882,000)
Screens: 2,667 (PSA: $3,118)
Weeks: 7 (Change: -16.3%)
On the flip side, you can safely say your comedy has reached the tipping point when you retrieve a voice mail that goes, "It's your mother. I was just thinking about the day you were born, and how my wolf pack, it grew by one."
12. 500 Days of Summer
Gross: $838,000 (new)
Screens: 27 (PSA: $31,037)
Weeks: 1
Meanwhile, another form of screen witchcraft -- that of magical man-child foil Zooey Deschanel and her 500 Days costar Joseph Gordon-Levitt -- has resulted in an astonishing per screen average of over $31,000. Fox Searchlight is beaming a little brighter today.
[Figures: Box Office Mojo]