The winner
Two and a half years after Borat stormed to the top of the charts, that old rascal Sacha Baron Cohen proved his brand of guerilla comedy remains irresistible to US audiences. It wasn't a huge launch, but considering the R rating it was pretty darn solid. Bruno debuted at No 1 on an estimated $30.4m (£18.8m), a couple of million above Fox's Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs on $28.5m (£17.6m) in its second weekend.
It's been well documented that Universal forked out $42.5m (£26.2m) to financier-producer Media Rights Capital for the right to distribute Bruno in North America and eight other territories including the UK, and the studio's claims that it will make a profit seem reasonable. However it remains to be seen whether the gay Austrian fashionista has good legs. No not those legs, silly – he clearly has the perfect body. No, we're talking about the film's ability to stick around. When all was said and done Borat made $128.5m (£79.3m) in the US after that November 2006 release, but Bruno slipped 39% on its second day in action, dropping from $14.4m (£8.9m) on Friday to $8.8m (£5.4m) on Saturday. That's generally not the kind of stuff that blockbusters are made of.
The loser
Easy one, this. The high school comedy I Love You, Beth Cooper flopped in seventh place on $5m (£3.1m) on the back of poor reviews and a weak lead in the form of Hayden Panettiere – she may have won admirers as the cheerleader in the TV hit Heroes but fails to cut the mustard on the big screen. This is one of the films made under the auspices of the now defunct Fox Atomic, Fox's hip experiment that never quite took off, resulting in its eventual closure. Twentieth Century Fox took over the release and probably wishes it never had. It'll be hoping for better luck with its next Atomic bequest, Jennifer's Body, later in the year. That one's a high-school horror flick starring Transformers' Megan Fox and written by Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody, so there may well be a change of fortune.
The dark horse
Universal's gangster flick Public Enemies is still going strong, fuelled by good word of mouth and its appeal to older audiences in search of something other than robots, animation and comedy. This week Johnny Depp and Christian Bale coaxed a further $14.1 (£8.7m) out of audiences for a $66.5m (£41m) running total; it's looking good after two weekends to at least cross $85m (£52.4m), if not the talismanic $100m (£61.7m). Summit Entertainment's Iraq War drama The Hurt Locker, as fine a piece of film-making as you'll find in any US cinema right now, is hanging around in the top 20 on a little over $1m (£617,000) after three weekends and has just expanded into 60 cinemas. There's a lot of good will for this one and a further expansion could yield a strong result. Similarly Duncan Jones's low-budget sci-fi flick Moon is doing well in limited release through Sony Pictures Classics and has taken $1.8m (£1.1m) after five weekends and ranks 16th, one place above The Hurt Locker.
The future
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. You may have heard of it. Sixth entry in the biggest active franchise in existence behind James Bond. The reviews have been mixed but movies like this are critic-proof. Business is going to be massive when the movie launches around the globe this week. It could set new records in North America, where audiences have shown they're as willing as ever this season to support big titles. The opening weekend record for the Harry Potter series in the US is Goblet of Fire's $102.7m (£63.4m) in November 2005, while the first instalment set the total gross high-water mark of $317.6m (£195.9m) after it launched in November 2001. Sharpen your pencils, record books at the ready...
North American top 10, 10-12 July 2009
1. Bruno, $30.4m. Total: $30.4m
2. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, $28.5m. Total: $120.6m
3. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, $24.2m. Total: $339.2m
4. Public Enemies, $14.1m. Total: $66.5m
5. The Proposal, $10.5m. Total: $113.8m
6. The Hangover, $9.9m. Total: $222.4m
7. I Love You, Beth Cooper, $5m. Total: $5m
8. Up, $4.7m. Total: $273.8m
9. My Sister's Keeper, $4.2m. Total: $35.8m
10. The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, $1.6m. Total: $61.5m
• Jeremy Kay writes for Screen International in Los Angeles
