'Harry Potter' still magic; 'Bruno' gets box-office shock

By Kevin Lally

The fears that Harry Potter's youthful following had been diluted by the phenomenal success of the newer fantasy sensation Twilight were eased by the robust performance of the sixth entry in the Warner Bros. series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, in its first five days at the box office. After a record $22.2 million generated by midnight performances last Wednesday, the numbers receded a bit, but still totaled a healthy $159.7 million from Wednesday witching hour through Sunday--the best launch in the series' history. That's great news for a youth-oriented franchise that first hit movie screens a full eight school years ago.

The number would have been even bigger had not the majority of IMAX screens remained committed to their runs of Transformers 2. The IMAX Transformers make way for the young wizardon July 29.

The news this weekend was not so magical for Sacha Baron Cohen's Bruno, who dropped not only his knickers but a precipitous 73% at the weekend box office, generating only $8.4 million and a fourth place finish. Baron Cohen's movie may be just as outrageous as his Borat, but something is amiss. It could be that the novelty of his guerrilla comedy has worn off, or that Bruno is less endearing than the bumbling (though anti-Semitic) Borat. Or maybe the mass audience simply wasn't prepared for how raunchy an R-rated film in 2009 can be--especially when the shocks involve graphic simulations of gay sex. Looks like it may be time for Mr. Baron Cohen to develop a brand-new character and a new comic method.

Fox Searchlight continued its run of indie successes with the encouraging numbers for its clever romantic comedy (500) Days of Summer, which earned $837,500 on 27 screens, a $37,000 per-screen average. The Zooey Deschanel/Joseph Gordon-Levitt pairing expands to 75 locations next weekend.