Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince surprised absolutely no one this week by making a ton of money. It’s destined, almost without a doubt, to be the second biggest movie of the summer, right behind Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. After a record-breaking opening day mid-week, Potter went on to make $79 million over the weekend and easily captured the number one spot. It probably didn’t hurt that last week’s number one wasn’t even in the picture.
While other summer blockbusters like Up, The Hangover, and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen have debuted at the top of the box office and then settled in for a long, long run hanging around in the top ten continuing to earn dollars; Bruno debuted at number one last week and then promptly plummeted. Sacha Baron Cohen’s hit people in the face with your penis flick fell a dismal 72% from last week all the way down to the number 4 spot where it earned only around $8 million. I think it’s pretty clear that the whole Cohen thing has run it’s course. Borat’s box office path couldn’t have been more different, debuting strong and then building and building audience and buzz as the week past. Only 7 days into Bruno’s run and he’s already out of gas.
But the best news of the week is 500 Days of Summer, easily the best movie of the year and already drawing the audience it deserved. It debuted in only 27 theaters this weekend and still managed to capture the #12 spot on the box office with a fantastic per screen average of $31,037 dollars. The film will open wider in coming weeks and as it does so expect it to creep slowly up the box office chart. Get out there and buy a ticket, 500 Days of Summer deserves your dollars.
Here’s the full 3-day weekend top ten:
| 1. | Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince * | $79,475,000 - | Total: $159,662,000 | LW: N WR: 1
THTRS: 4,325 |
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| 2. | Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs | $17,700,000 - | Total: $152,005,000 | LW: 2 WR: 3
THTRS: 3,817 |
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| 3. | Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen | $13,750,000 - | Total: $363,867,000 | LW: 3 WR: 4
THTRS: 2,759 |
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| 4. | Bruno | $8,374,000 - | Total: $49,588,000 | LW: 1 WR: 2
THTRS: 2,759 |
|
| 5. | The Hangover | $8,315,000 - | Total: $235,882,000 | LW: 6 WR: 7
THTRS: 2,667 |
|
| 6. | The Proposal | $8,294,000 - | Total: $128,087,000 | LW: 5 WR: 5
THTRS: 3,043 |
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| 7. | Public Enemies | $7,592,000 - | Total: $79,483,000 | LW: 4 WR: 3
THTRS: $7,592,000 |
|
| 8. | Up | $3,147,000 - | Total: $279,559,000 | LW: 8 WR: 8
THTRS: 1,706 |
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| 9. | My Sister's Keeper | $2,825,000 - | Total: $41,504,000 | LW: 9 WR: 4
THTRS: 1,967 |
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| 10. | I Love You Beth Cooper | $2,665,000 - | Total: $10,261,000 | LW: 7 WR: 2
THTRS: 1,872 |
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