To absolutely no one’s surprise, Bruno opened in the number one slot this weekend, but signs may not be so good for its future. Transformers:RotF fell to third place under the consistent Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs . The only other new offering of the week, I Love You, Beth Cooper , came in a weak seventh place. Sadly, we didn’t even know it had come out yet.
Sacha Baron Cohen took the number one spot this week with Bruno ($30.4M), but studio execs have got to be nervous after a 39 percent drop in sales from Friday’s opening to Saturday. While the first weekend out grossed its predecessor Borat , it also opened in three times as many theaters. Looks like this one may not have been helped out by word-of-mouth.
On the flip side of the comedy spectrum, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs held onto its spot for a second weekend with $28.5M for a hefty $120.6M gross — virtually identical to 2006’s Meltdown . This 3-D flick could be in trouble, however, thanks to a certain wizard who’s poised to steal a big segment of its audience.
Despite a 43 percent slide, Transformers: RotF held on strong this week with $24.2M ($339.2M total), officially surpassing the gross of the first film. The Michael Bay smash is expected to break into the all-time domestic-gross top ten, but don’t be too impressed. Taking rising ticket prices into account, the sales will be more on par with Men in Black which only made $250.1M in its time.
Thanks are probably due to Mr. Depp for keeping Public Enemies at a decent, $14.1M ($66.5M total) this weekend. The gangster flick looks poised for $90M-$100M finish, which isn’t too bad, except for its $100M budget and mega promotional campaign. But even after a rather tepid opening and this less-than-stellar showing, the movie has already become the fourth top grossing Michael Mann film ever, so maybe they should have seen this coming.
Finally Sandra Bullock’s comeback, The Proposal fended off The Hangover (now the top grossing R-rated comedy ever) again for $10.5M in sales ($113.7M total). Between this and the Green Lantern announcement, Ryan Reynolds is having a pretty good year — just don’t let it interfere with Deadpool , Ryan, or we’ll have to come find you!