‘Brüno' might lack the big draw of ‘Borat'

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Gay Austrian fashion devotee Bruno has landed the No. 1 spot at the weekend box office, although it's uncertain how much staying power he has.

Sacha Baron Cohen's “Bruno” started big on opening day Friday but had a huge drop the rest of the weekend. The Universal Pictures mock documentary finished with $30.4 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The movie took in nearly half its weekend total — $14.4 million — on Friday. It tumbled with just $8.8 million Saturday and an estimated $7.2 million Sunday.

Revenues for hit movies typically go up on Saturday, so “Bruno” might lack the shelf life that made Baron Cohen's “Borat” a $100 million smash.

“Bruno,” which features Baron Cohen as a wannabe going to extremes to achieve celebrity, finished ahead of 20th Century Fox's “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs,” which took second with $28.5 million. The “Ice Age” sequel raised its domestic total to $120.6 million.

The weekend's other new wide release, 20th Century Fox's romantic comedy “I Love You, Beth Cooper” opened weakly with $5  million, finishing at No.  7. The movie centers on a high school valedictorian who uses his graduation speech to declare his love for a bombshell classmate (Hayden Panettiere).

“Bruno” outpaced the $26.5 million opening weekend for Baron Cohen's surprise 2006 hit “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.”

“Borat” started with $9.2 million on opening day Friday and rose to $10.1 million Saturday. Word-of-mouth propelled “Borat” to a long run and a $128.5 million domestic total.

The studio will have to wait until next weekend for a sense of how well “Bruno” will hold up.

“I don't know. That crystal ball just isn't on my desk this morning,” said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal.

“Zany comedies tend to be like that, so I'm hoping that in the scheme of things, it just plays out the way zany comedies will play out.”