Ice Age Ties Transformers on Slow Holiday

(NEWSER) - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince conjured up a weekend box-office win with $79.5 million, bringing its 5-day total to $159.7 million, Bloomberg reports. The Hogwarts sequel trailed only Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen for the year's best bow. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs ($17.7 million), Transformers ($13.8 million), Bruno ($8.4 million) and The Hangover filled out the top five. More»

(NEWSER) - Bruno catwalked its way to the top of the box office this weekend, taking in $30.4 million, the Los Angeles Times reports. That’s a better debut than Sacha Baron Cohen’s earlier button-pusher Borat saw, though Bruno faced a steep drop-off in ticket sales after Friday. Holdovers Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs ($28.5 million), Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen ($24.2 million), and Public Enemies ($14.1 million) rounded out the top four. More»

Behind only 'Harry Potter' and 'Spider-Man 3'

(NEWSER) - Transformers: Dark of the Moon notched a smashing weekend, pocketing an eye-popping $372 million from around the globe and grabbing the No. 3 opening weekend of all time. The third in the franchise pulled in $162 million domestically, but it's proving to be a blockbuster overseas, notes the Hollywood Reporter. The weekend's take is behind only Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ($394 million) and Spider-Man 3 ($382 million). Click here for a roundup of reviews for Dark of the Moon. More»

Apparently audiences don't care about the awful reviews

(AP) - Hollywood's hangover is a lot bigger the second time around. The Hangover Part II hauled in $86.5 million in its first weekend, putting Hollywood on course to set a new revenue record for the long Memorial Day weekend, according to studio estimates today. The Hangover sequel did nearly twice the business of the original blockbuster comedy in its $45 million opening weekend two years ago. In its first four days since opening Thursday, the Warner Bros. sequel has taken in $118.1 million and is on track to finish the long Memorial Day weekend with about $140 million in the bank. (And all this despite some truly terrible reviews ...) More»

Cinema owners say actress was the biggest draw of the year

(NEWSER) - Cinema owners love Sandra Bullock, even if critics don't always agree. The owners named Bullock the Hollywood star with the most drawing power in 2009, thanks to her roles in The Proposal, The Blind Side, and even the widely panned All About Steve. The annual survey isn't based strictly on numbers but on which star brought in the most moviegoers by name alone, notes Reuters . Following her were Johnny Depp, Matt Damon, George Clooney, and Robert Downey Jr. More»