Sacha Baron Cohen’s Brüno jumped to the top spot at the North American box office with a solid $30.4 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The Larry Charles-directed comedy debuted at 2,756 locations Friday, beating the opening weekend gross of Borat by $4 million. (It should be noted that Borat opened in considerably fewer theaters.) In Brüno, Cohen plays a flamboyant gay Austrian fashionista heading to Los Angeles to become the biggest Austrian celebrity since Hitler.
This week’s second wide release, the comedy I Love You, Beth Cooper, debuted at No. 7 with only $5 million. Directed by Chris Columbus, I Love You, Beth Cooper stars Hayden Panettiere as a hot high-school grad showing a nerd (Paul Rust) the time of his life.
At No. 2, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs collected another $28.5 million, lifting its domestic total to $120.5 million after a highly successful two-week run.
Michael Bay’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen came in behind the animated adventure tale, scoring $24.2 million for a cumulative gross of $339.2 million. The Transformers sequel raced past the $319 million total gross of its predecessor.
Following in fourth place was Michael Mann’s Public Enemies, which picked up $14.1 million for a total haul of $66.5 million after two weeks in release. Johnny Depp stars as American bank robber John Dillinger.
Still going strong was Anne Fletcher’s romantic comedy The Proposal, which took home $10.5 million at No. 5. The Sandra Bullock-Ryan Reynolds vehicle brought its domestic total to $113.7 million.
Todd Phillips’ R-rated smash comedy hit The Hangover followed in sixth place with a weekend gross of $9.9 million. The film's total haul currently stands at an impressive $222.4 million.
At the bottom of the top 10, Pixar’s Up pulled in $4.6 million for a cume of $273.7 million after seven weeks in release. Following in ninth place was Nick Cassavetes’ My Sister’s Keeper, which generated $4.1 million for a total of $35.8 million.
Finally, Tony Scott’s thriller The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 slipped to No. 10 with a weekend gross of $1.6 million and a cumulative of $61.4 million after a mediocre five-week run.
Source: Box Office Mojo (www.boxofficemojo.com)