Loaded Couch Potatoes

(1)  Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ($77.8 million, $17,997 per screen, $158 million total):  After that monstrous (and record-shattering) midnight-show opening night, you might forgiven for thinking that a “mere” $77 million weekend is a little disappointing.  It’s not, really … but it kinda feels that way, as Potterphiles on Wednesday no doubt had visions of breaking all of The Dark Knight‘s records dancing in their heads.

Well, that didn’t happen, but here’s one record which did fall: Half-Blood Prince is now the champeen for worldwide five-day release, pulling in a bit less than $397 million (that breaks the previous record held by Spider-Man 3, which made nearly $382 million in its opening five days).

As with many franchises that have hard-core followings, you can expect the box-office to drop off by sixty percent or more next weekend.  Regardless, Warner Bros. will be rolling in cash this week, and the series shows no signs of abating in popularity.

(2)  Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs ($17.5 million, $4601 per screen, $151.8 million total):  Down 36% this weekend, the prehistoric critters got only mildly wounded by Harry and friends.

(3)  Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen ($13.6 million, $3550 per screen, $363.8 million total):  The Autobots continue to mediocre their way to $400 million.  My mouth tastes suddenly of yellow spit.

(4)  Bruno ($8.3 million, $3015 per screen, $49.5 million total):  Down nearly 73% this weekend, and no surprise there.  Bruno is likely to make less than half of what Borat made, which is fairly pathetic as far as big-ticket sequels go.

(5)  The Proposal ($8.2 million, $2724 per screen, $128 million total):  Another solid weekend for the romantic comedy, although it will probably take a hit at the hands of The Ugly Truth this weekend.  Alternatively, if that one hits and sells out screens, The Proposal might actually benefit from it.

(6)  The Hangover ($8.1 million, $3066 per screen, $235.7 million total):  Refusing to go away, the comedy of the summer is off only 17% from last weekend, and will probably be around until Labor Day, at this rate.

(7)  Public Enemies ($7.7 million, $2485 per screen, $79.6 million per screen):  Can the gangster flick make it to $100 million?  If so, it ain’t gonna be by much.  Still, it’s been a moderate success, and nobody involved has to hang their heads.

(8)  Up ($3.1 million, $1859 per screen, $279.5 million total):  Close to being out of the top ten, it’s been a great run for Pixar with this one.  If they made a feature-length movie about pieces of corn inside turds, I’d hesitate to bet against it being a classic.

(9)  My Sister’s Keeper ($2.8 million, $1438 per screen, $41.5 million total):  Yawn.

(10)  I Love You Beth Cooper ($2.7 million, $1478 per screen, $10.3 million total):  Double yawn.

(12)  (500) Days of Summer:  Averaging $30,907 per screen in its 27-screen opening weekend, this one stands a chance at being the first genuine limited-release hit of the summer.  If, that is, it can find screens to play on during August … and that’s no given.

I care so little about this weekend’s releases that I can’t even be bothered to make predictions.