Weekend Box Office: 'Bruno' Scares Up $30M

Bruno's estimated $30.4 million weekend beats Borat's $26.5 million, but that's a little deceptive. Sacha Baron Cohen's 2006 comedy earned that first-weekend money on just over 800 screens, and saw the number rise when it expanded to 2500 screens the next weekend. Bruno opened to 2,750 screens, and it's all downhill from here. Moreover, almost precisely 50% of Bruno's weekend number came from Friday ticket sales, which may indicate that the film is particularly front-loaded.

Still, $30 million for what is (apparently -- I haven't seen it yet) one of the most aggressively offensive mainstream movies to ever come down the pike isn't bad. And it sure kicked the ass of Fox's I Love You, Beth Cooper, a painfully unremarkable teen comedy that proved impossible to market with no headlining stars. Beth Cooper opened to $5 million, which won't have anyone uncorking champagne, though the movie was cheap enough that it's tough to peg it as a major flop.

Up has settled into second place on the Pixar charts, where it is likely to remain; Finding Nemo's $340 million is now out of reach. Meanwhile, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen has already broken $340 million, goddammit, is now the 16th highest-grossing movie of all time, and is likely to end up, oh, 9th or 10th before leaving theaters.

See the full top 10 after the jump.
1 - Bruno (Universal) - $30.43 ($11,040) - $30.43
2 - Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (Fox) - $28.50 ($6,948) - $120.57
3 - Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Paramount/Dreamworks) - $24.20 ($5,637) - $339.21
4 - Public Enemies (Universal) - $14.11 ($4,230) - $66.54
5 - The Proposal (Disney) - $10.51 ($3,327) - $113.76
6 - The Hangover (Warner Bros.) - $9.93 ($3,308) - $222.44
7 - I Love You, Beth Cooper (Fox) - $5.00 ($2,691) - $5.00
8 - Up (Disney) - $4.66 ($2,115) - $273.78
9 - My Sister's Keeper (Warner Bros.) - $4.18 ($1,710) - $35.80
10 - The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (Sony) - $1.60 ($1,434) - $61.50

Next week: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince -- the summer's only other movie likely to threaten $300 million -- opens alone.