While some box office analysts had expected the firestorm of controversy and hype that surrounded the release of Bruno to push the film’s opening weekend gross past $40 million, in the end the movie has made $30.4 million in its first three days at US cinemas, which is around what the studio had expected. It beat the opening weekend gross of Borat, Sacha Baron Cohen’s previous movie, which made $26.5 million in Novermber 2006. However, it should be noted that Borat took its distributor by surprise, as they only opened it on around 800 screens, while Bruno went out in 2,756 theatres.
Borat went on to make $128.5 million in America, which Bruno is currently on target to match. That’s good news for Universal Studios, which paid $42.5 million for the rights to release the movie in the US and certain other countries.
Last week’s number one, Transformers 2, slipped to number three with $24.9 million, taking its gross to an impress $339 million. While some people have been talking about whether the robot sequel would hit $600 million in America, it’s now unlikely to do that. However there’s a very good chance that the film will be the highest grossing movie of 2009 in the US, as there are relatively few massive movies still to come out this year that might truly challenge it.
Ice Age 3 held steady at number two on the box office list, while the only new entry in the top 10 other than Bruno was I Love You, Beth Cooper at number seven, which grossed a small but not unexpected $5 million. The film is another flop for Chris Columbus, who was flying high a few years ago as director of the first two Harry Potter films, but has since then only directed Rent and now I Love You, Beth Cooper, both of which have underperformed at the box office.
Take a look below for the full US top 10 for the weekend of July 10th-12th, based on studio estimates.
| Rank | Title | Weekend Gross (millions) | Total Gross to date (millions) |
| 1 | Bruno | $30.4 | $30.4 |
| 2 | Ice Age 3: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs | $28.5 | $121 |
| 3 | Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen | $24.2 | $339 |
| 4 | Public Enemies | $14.1 | $66.5 |
| 5 | The Proposal | $10.5 | $114 |
| 6 | The Hangover | $9.93 | $222 |
| 7 | I Love You, Beth Cooper | $5 | $5 |
| 8 | Up | $4.66 | $274 |
| 9 | My Sister’s Keeper | $4.18 | $35.8 |
| 10 | Night At The Museum: Battle Of The Smithsonian | $1.52 | $171 |