Now, I knew this movie was probably going to do decent business, but somehow, seeing the evidence of it there on the computer screen plain as day just makes it sting a bit worse.

I don’t want to be too offensive here, but G-Force is a movie engineered to sap dollars out of stupid people, and it looks like it worked.  Damn you Disney, why must you sometimes pander so?

(2)  Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ($29.4 million, $6812 per screen, $221.2 million total):  The latest adventure at Hogwarts dropped a hefty 62% from its opening weekend.  To be clear that’s a 62% drop from a weekend that was already a bit disappointing (Half-Blood Prince made more on Wednesday and Thursday last week than it made on Friday through Sunday, which is more front-loaded than a blockbuster really ought to be).

Still, the movie is doing generally good business, and this week’s expansion onto IMAX screens might well provide a boost to the box office.  I’m going to say that this movie stalls out at around $275 million domestic, but the IMAX influx might prove me wrong.

(3)  The Ugly Truth ($27.6 million, $9579 per screen):  Check out that per-screen average if you want to really know how well this movie did.  And bear in mind that G-Force‘s receipts were bolstered by the 3D surcharge on many of its screens.

In other words, Katherine Heigl is now a genuinely bankable star, and her latest movie sold out on screens nationwide.  If Sony had been able to get this thing onto more screens, they might have had a #1 on their hands.

(4)  Orphan ($12.8 million, $4681 per screen):  For example: I bet exhibitors wish they could have given up some of Orphan‘s screens to The Ugly Truth.  The two films debuted on roughly the same number of screens, but the romcom did nearly a third more business.  Horror has been an iffy proposition this summer, and even during the spring, this would have been a weak debut.  Expect it to fade fast.

(5)  Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs ($8.4 million, $2548 per screen, $171.4 million total):  Down over 50% this weekend, the prehistoric critters tok a bit of a hammering by the tiny fists of the G-Force gang.  Christ, I hope I never have to write a sentence like that one again.

(6)  Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen ($8.1 million, $2510 per screen, $379.2 million):  Once again reaping quite a few dollars from kids held back a grade and from people who wear sweatpants in public, Michael Bay and the ghettobots continue to steamroll through the history books.

(7)  The Hangover ($6.4 million, $2828 per screen, $247 million total):  The comedy that would not die didn’t die this weekend, either.  Down a mere 21%, the roofie-flavored laffer might well get a beating at Adam Sandler’s hands the next time I write this column.  But don’t bet too much on it.

(8)  The Proposal ($6.3 million, $2296 per screen, $140 million total):  The Ugly Truth didn’t hurt a bit, nope; in fact, The Proposal was down only 23% this weekend, which almost certainly means that it benefitted from all those sold-out screens for the Hiegl flick.

(9)  Public Enemies ($4.3 million, $1900 per screen, $88.2 million total):  Neither truly impressive nor truly unimpressive, the box-office on this one has just been kinda blah.

(10)  Bruno ($2.8 million, $1495 per screen, $56.6 million total):  Sacha Baron Cohen might well find his career damaged a bit off of the relative stench this movie has exuded.  The movie had a good opening day, and everything after that has been disappointing at best.

(12)  (500) Days of Summer:  Another good weekend for the indie darling, which averaged $19,244 on its 85 screens.  Still stands a decent shot at becoming a hit if Fox can find it some more screens.

Next weekend: Funny People and Aliens in the Attic.  And The Collector, for the none of you who care about that.

Now, normally, I’m vehemently anti-Sandler, but this time, he’s starring in a Judd Apatow-directed movie, so I’m sold.  I’ve got nothing against Sandler; it’s his movies I can’t fucking stand.  The box-office question is whether or not this movie is gimmicky enough for America’s comedic tastes.  I’m thinking not.  It’ll debut with a disappointing $23 million.

If Aliens in the Attic makes more than $10 million, I’ll vomit.

(1)  Bruno ($30.4 million, $11,040 per screen):  As a de-facto sequel to Borat — which made nearly as much in its second weekend as this one did in its debut– there is simply no way to look at this as anything other than a disappointment.  Consider the fact that its Friday numbers accounted for nearly half of its overall weekend, and I think it’s clear that Bruno is little more than a blip on the summer-movie radar, destined to be all but forgotten by this time next week.  Move along, nothing to see here.

(2)  Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs ($28.5 million, $6948 per screen, $120.5 million total):  Down roughly thirty percent this weekend, it’s a solid hold for the toon, for — as I believe I said last week, too — I can’t shake the feeling that Fox must have wanted more.  If nothing else, this offers proof that summer really isn’t the be-all, end-all of blockbuster release dates; the previous two films in this series opened in the spring, and this one is only doing about as well as those did; clearly, at least in this case, it’s the movie, not the release date.

(3)  Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen ($24.2 million, $5637 per screen, $339.2 million total):  Dropping only about forty percent this weekend, the Autobots continue to chug along, damn their hollow metal souls.  They’re likely to suffer a bit at the hands of Hogwarts next week, though.

(4)  Public Enemies ($14.1 million, $4230 per screen, $66.5 million total):  Down 45% this weekend, that’s not bad, but neither is it an omen of particularly good word of mouth.  Look for this movie to top out at about $85 million and enjoy a long, comfortable life in the home market.

(5)  The Proposal ($10.5 million, $3327 per screen, $113.7 million total):  Down less than twenty percent this weekend, Ryan Reynolds has considerable cause to celebrate this weekend; between this and the news that he’s been cast as the Green Lantern in that movie, he’s doing okay for himself the past few days.

(6)  The Hangover ($9.9 million, $3308 per screen, $222.4 million total):  If someone had told you on May 1 that The Hangover would make close to $250 million, would you have believed them?  Yeah, me neither.

(7)  I Love You Beth Cooper ($5 million, $2691 per screen):  That’s a miserable debut, but Fox dumped the movie, so it probably could have been even worse.  Clearly, Hayden Panettiere is going to have to wait to become a star.

(8)  Up ($4.6 million, $2115 per screen, $273.7 million total):  It doesn’t appear that Up is going to be able to make it to the $300 million mark, but it’s still got an outside shot.  Definitely one of this summer’s biggest success stories, and probably its best movie.  Until G-Force comes out, that is.

(9)  My Sister’s Keeper ($4.1 million, $1710 per screen, $35.8 million total):  Yawn…

(10)  The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 ($1.6 million, $1434 per screen, $61.4 million total):  …so sleepy…

Wednesday brings us Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and if the reviews are any indication, it’s not only the best film of the series, but it’s the best by a large margin.  Advance ticket sales are through the roof, so look for the record for midnight-show openings to possibly be toppled.  This is a perennially strong series, so who knows how high the opening weekend could go.  I don’t think the five-day record being broken is in the cards … but … those advance sales are awfully strong.

My prediction: from Wednesday through Sunday, $185 million.

(1)  Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen ($42.3 million, $9995 per screen, $293.3 million total):  Well, I’m not claiming it was a bad weekend for the ghettobots, but the big-ticket sequel did slide by 61% this weekend.  It’s tempting to chalk that up to the holiday, but I’m not convinced punching England in the eye was actually to blame, at least not fully.  Likely, that combined with bad reviews, the opening of Ice Age, and the monster opening week to limit the number of people buying tickets this weekend.  It’s still going to make a serious run at $400 million, but for a movie that opened only a hair less impressively than The Dark Knight, which ended up making well over $500 million total … well, all of a sudden, Revenge of the Fallen starts looking a little weaker.  Only a little, but hey, I’ll take what I can get, ’cause that movie sucks three-day nutsack.

(2)  Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs ($41.6 million, $10,171 per screen, $66.7 million total):  I’m gonna classify this one as a mild disappointment.  It managed to make only about as much in its first five days as the previous film in the series, and that’s despite the summer release date and the premium 3D ticket prices.  Sure, the holiday hurt, and the Transformers hurt more.  So what?  I think Fox ought to have been able to get more out of this movie.

(3)  Public Enemies ($25.2 million, $7580 per screen, $40.1 million total):  $40 mil in five days is pretty decent for a gangster movie, but I don’t think it’s much more than decent, and you can thank Johnny Depp for that number.  Whatever he made on this movie, it was probably worth it.  Nobody seems to be raving about the movie, though, so I’m guessing legs aren’t going to be as good as might normally be the case for an older-skewing movie like this one.

(4)  The Proposal ($12.8 million, $4149 per screen, $94.3 million total):  Down only 31% despite the holiday, The Propsal has turned into a significant hit, and as far as date movies go, it’s got a few more weeks before any real competition shows up.  A major success for Disney this summer.

(5)  The Hangover ($11.2 million, $3670 per screen, $205 million total):  Speaking of major successes, this one might be able to make it to $250 million before it’s all said and done.  It might get hurt by Bruno this weekend, though.

(6)  Up ($6.5 million, $2455 per screen, $264.8 million total):  Dropping 50% this weekend, that’s its worst decline so far, but not too shabby considering that Ice Age opened.  It became Pixar’s second-highest-grossing movie, which is awesome (news that is tempered somewhat when you realize that if inflation is considered, it ranks only seventh on the list … although really, that’s still pretty frickin’ good).

(7)  My Sister’s Keeper ($5.7 million, $2221 per screen, $26.5 million total):  Crumbling 53%, that’s not a result conducive to many more weeks in cinemas.

(8)  The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 ($2.5 million, $1328 per screen, $58.5 million total):  For a movie that cost $100 million, this is a fairly pathetic performance.  Can we get Tony Scott to stop making movies now?  Who am I kidding; he’ll probably direct the inevitable Voltron movie and make something even worse than Transformers.

(9)  Year One ($2.3 million, $1037 per screen, $38.3 million total):  Continuing its unimpressive run, I’m pleased that this will be the final week in which I write about this movie.

(10)  Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian ($2 million, $1440 per screen, $167.7 million total):  Ditto.

Next week we get Bruno and I Love You, Beth Cooper.  The Austrian gets about $27 million, and the cheerleader saves neither the world nor the box office, pulling in, oh, I’m a-gonna say $13 million.