It was a “wunderbar” weekend for comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, whose latest mockumentary, Bruno, finished first at the box office by grossing $30.4 million, according to early estimates by Hollywood.com Box Office. However, Cohen better celebrate his victory quickly because like his gay Austrian character’s interview with Congressman Ron Paul, it’s not going to last too long. Bruno topped the charts on Friday with an imposing $14.4 million, but then dropped 39 percent on Saturday. In fact, while Bruno won the weekend, it came in third place on Saturday. Clearly, many of Cohen’s fans rushed to see Bruno on its opening day, but that considerable Friday-to-Saturday drop may also indicate poor word-of-mouth (the comedy scored a rancid “C” rating from CinemaScore moviegoers). Bruno surpassed the debut of Cohen’s last mockumentary, Borat, which opened to $26.5 million in November 2006, although it’s not a fair comparison — Bruno started its run on more than three times as many screens as Borat. All indicators point to Bruno struggling to match Borat‘s cumulative gross of $128.5 million.

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs was No. 2 with $28.5 million, dropping only 32 percent from last weekend. The animated family film has made $120.6 million in two weeks. Third place went to the robots, as Michael Bay’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen smashed up $24.2 million in its third weekend, bringing its total to $339.2 million. Transformers 3 will be here before you know it.

Public Enemies (No. 4 with $14.1 million) and The Proposal (No. 5 with $10.5 million) round out the top five. The Proposal marks star Sandra Bullock’s first $100 million picture since 2000′s Miss Congeniality, and the romantic comedy should have no trouble passing 1994′s Speed to become Bullock’s biggest hit. The weekend’s other new wide release, the teen comedy I Love You, Beth Cooper, opened at No. 7 with $5 million.

Looking to the indie scene, a trio of films garnered decent openings. Blood: The Last Vampire drained $103,000 from 20 theaters. The “mumblecore” comedy, Humpday, made $30,000 on just two screens, and the music documentary, Soul Power, took $25,000 from six screens. The year’s best-reviewed film, The Hurt Locker, expanded to 60 theaters in its third weekend and earned $623,000 for a hearty $10,383 per-screen average. The Iraq War thriller will continue expanding into additional theaters over the next few weeks.

More Box Office News:
Box Office Preview: Sacha Baron Cohen’s ‘Bruno’ eyes a big weekend win
‘Transformers 2′ breaks tie with ‘Ice Age 3′ to win three-day weekend
‘Transformers 2′ and ‘Ice Age 3′ tie for first place…sorta
‘Transformers 2′ wins Friday box office, becomes highest grosser of 2009
‘Transformers 2′ and ‘Ice Age 3′ still neck-and-neck at box office

The Movie Critics: Owen Gleiberman and Lisa Schwarzbaum spar over Bruno:

MONDAY UPDATE: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen tops Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs for the three-day weekend after final July 4 box office results are released. The following was written based on Sunday’s estimated figures.

Talk about a photo finish. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs reached the end of the July 4 weekend effectively tied for the three-day weekend box office crown, with both films taking in $42.5 million, according to early estimates by Hollywood.com Box Office. Those numbers will undoubtedly change once final figures are announced on Monday — except that, really, Manny the Woolly Mammoth has most likely already taken this fight.

We all know that when school’s out for the summer, there really
isn’t such a thing as a “weekend” when it comes to movies aimed at the
kids. To wit: Although its three-day opening weekend is the lowest ever for the Ice Age franchise, Ice Age 3‘s estimated five-day opening gross stands at $67.5 million. In the same five-day period, Transformers 2 took in an estimated $64.9 million, a clear second place. Still, Optimus is no slouch; with $293.4 million in the bank, Transformers 2 is easily the highest grossing movie of 2009 — if no longer on track to match last year’s The Dark Knight, which had raked in $334 million at the same point in its run.

Johnny Depp, meanwhile, may not have had the box office-melting power of Capt. Jack Sparrow in his corner, but as famed bank robber John Dillinger, he still managed to help lift Public Enemies past decidedly mixed reviews to a highly respectable $26.1 million for the three-day weekend and a $41 million five-day total. As fans of adult dramas everywhere breathe a huge sigh of relief, the next test for the gangster picture will be overcoming muted word-of-mouth; it bagged just a “B” CinemaScore rating.

The Proposal landed at fourth with $12.8 million, an impressive 31% drop from the week before, bringing the romcom to $94.2 million. The Hangover continues to hang on, netting $10.4 million for fifth place and passing the $200 million threshold in its fifth week of release. Finally, Up may have lost its temporary title of 2009′s top grosser, but with a $6.6 million weekend lifting its total to $264 million, the winsome adventure rose past The Incredibles to become Pixar’s second-highest grossing movie ever, behind only Finding Nemo. Not bad for a geriatric widower, huh?

Hollywood studios always expect to reap big returns on holiday weekends, and this Fourth of July frame won’t be any different. But with the actual Independence Day holiday falling on a Saturday — a virtual dead day at the movies — the gains won’t be as great as some might prefer. Still, with the review-proof crowd pleasers Ice Age 3 and Transformers 2 squaring off — and the Johnny Depp-Christian Bale period piece Public Enemies looking to carve out a special piece of the pie for grown-up moviegoers — the battle will be pitched as ever.

1. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen — $49 million
In just eight days, Michael Bay’s critic-shunning, robot-fighting juggernaut has grossed $239 million, putting it on track to be the highest grossing film of the summer: It’s guaranteed to surpass both Star Trek and Up over the weekend.

2. Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs — $48 million
This weekend will provide yet more proof that children love them some dinosaurs — even if it’s impossible that dinosaurs were ever around during the ice age. Critics haven’t been kind, but with the past two Ice Age films grossing $176 million and $195 million, audiences will come out regardless. (Ticket buyers already plunked down $13.8 million on Wednesday, Ice Age 3‘s opening day.) After all, parents need somewhere to take their kids. Oh, and that little squirrel Scrat and his acorn adventures are pretty cute.

3. Public Enemies — $25 million

Johnny Depp as bank robber John Dillinger, on the run from Christian Bale’s FBI agent Melvin Purvis, should be reason enough for any moviegoer to spend 10 bucks at the theater. Add in perfectionist director Michael Mann and ingenue Marion Cotillard and we’ve got ourselves a movie. (The film banked $8.2 million on its opening day.) And if that isn’t encouragement enough, consider this: If Public Enemies fails like so many other adult dramas have recently, the chances of seeing more movies like it will be as good as Dillinger surviving the Biograph Theater takedown.

4. The Hangover — $10 million

No one ever thought Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and Zach Galifianakis could headline a $200 million grossing movie. And yet, after this weekend, when the $31 million-budgeted, Todd Phillips-directed, R-rated comedy crosses the $200 million mark, that’ll be the case.

5. The Proposal — $9 million

This Anne Fletcher-directed comedy has already out-grossed many of Sandra Bullock’s previous films, including The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and Miss Congeniality 2. If it maintains its current pace, it’s on track to surpass Two Weeks Notice‘s take of $93 million by next week. Not bad for a movie star who was sworn to abandoning the romantic comedy genre.

More Box Office News:
‘Transformers 2′ earns $201 million its first five days
‘Transformers 2′ grosses record $60.6 mil at the box office on Wednesday
‘The Proposal’ celebrates with $34.1 mil
‘Hangover’ hangs on to the box office lead with $33.4 million
Final numbers give ‘The Hangover’ No. 1 spot over ‘Up’