Box Office Opening | featured news

'The Ugly Truth' opens strong -- The G-forces were too strong for the competition as Disney's "G-Force" won the crowded race at the domestic box office, grossing $32.2 million and surpassing holdover "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince."

FRIDAY PM: Here's first look at early North American box office numbers for today...
1. G-Force (Disney) $11 million today & around $33M this weekend.
2. Ugly Truth (Sony) $10M today & about $27M weekend.

Harry Potter cast a spell over moviegoers worldwide as the sixth entry in the fantasy franchise set a new opening record of $396.7 million, breaking the former global record held by “Spider-Man 3.”

WB pic casts spell over box office -- Warner Bros.’ “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” grossed a magical $58.4 million from 4,275 theaters as it opened Wednesday at the domestic B.O., including a potent $22.2 million in midnight shows.

Pic may score best midnight gross of all time -- In a massive start, Warner Bros.’ “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” easily scored the biggest midnight gross of all-time in earning $22.2 million as it unspooled in 3,003 runs at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.

FRIDAY PM/SATURDAY AM: Sources tell me that Warner Bros' Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince made $26 million Friday for what's looking like an $80M three-day weekend and a $160M first-five-day total. "I guess the answer is pretty straightforward: No, Harry Potter 6 won't get close to Transformers 2," a rival studio exec emailed me tonight. "And it's faltering quickly, getting farther behind TF2 every day."

'Ice Age' passes the $100 million mark -- Universal’s Sacha Baron Cohen starrer “Bruno” grossed an estimated $30.4 million in its domestic debut from 2,756 runs, although most fans seemed to have turned out for opening day.

SATURDAY AM UPDATE: The "Hard-R"-rated comedy Bruno opened to $14.2 million today and may come close to a $36M weekend from its 2,757 North American theaters. Universal is now projecting $35.8M, which will make it one of the 5 biggest R-rated comedy openings ever.

Twentieth Century Fox's 3-D toon "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" froze out Paramount's "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" at the Wednesday box office, grossing an estimated $13.8 million as it opened in 3,993 runs.

Fox's Ice Age 3-D: Dawn of the Dinosaurs opened very promisingly with $14 million Wednesday, $11.5M Thursday, $17M Friday, and $11M Saturday from 4,099 venues for a $43M 3-day weekend -- a photo finish with Transformers 2. (Rival studios had been claiming the pic wasn't tracking well with young boys, and that's why 20th sneaked it at 330 theaters recently. But Fox said it "added an additional marketing layer prior to the onslaught of TF2." But the public clearly hasn't tired of 3-D toons.) The threequel came out on top with a $68M 5-day holiday even though Saturday grosses were weak.