Borat Debuts as Top Grossing Film this Weekend

[Rose Siding]

LOS ANGELES - Sacha Baron Cohen's Kazakh alter-ego Borat made glorious returns at the box office, surprising Hollywood with a No. 1 debut.

"Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," 20th Century Fox's big-screen incarnation of Cohen's Kazakh journalist from "Da Ali G Show," took in $26.4 million during its opening weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.

"This picture was playing to full houses," said Bruce Snyder, head of distribution at 20th Century Fox. "The planets aligned, the moons aligned, the stars aligned, and everything came together perfectly for us on this weekend."

Box-office analysts had expected Disney's "The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause," with Tim Allen returning as St. Nicholas, to win the weekend. It was No. 2 with $20 million, followed by the Paramount-DreamWorks animated comedy "Flushed Away" in third place with $19.1 million....
"Borat" played in only 837 theaters, fewer than one-fourth the count for "The Santa Clause 3" and "Flushed Away."...

AP at Yahoo

[Arkana]

1. ...and it was worth every penny I paid to see it.

Funniest film I've seen all year.

[romantico]

3. I agree

So, whats the deal? Were theatres afraid to book it? WHy on so few screens? I would think someone would be pissed. Imagine how much more they would have made if they opened it on the same amount of screens as Santa CLause 3 did!

[Mr. Blonde]

11. Marketing decision

Apparently they were worried that interest had not gone beyone Ali G fans and Myspacers. Clearly that was incorrect. I believe it will expand to about 2,500 screens next week.

[majorjohn]

2. Not surprised

Extremely funny movie, but can offend a lot of people at the same time.

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. He reminds me a bit of Yakov

[romantico]

6. I have a question

Okay, MAJOR soiler here. If you have NOT seen the movie and want to be surprised, go away now!




































The nude wrestling match in the hotel room. Why did we see the fat naked dude but Borat was censored with a black bar? My friend says it was more than likely Sacha Cohen who plays Borat. Maybe he has a tiny winky.Well, if true why do it? Wouldn;t it have been just as funny if Borat was wearing his underwear? Anyway, I disgreed. I thought it might be the MPAA. In order to give it a R rating they needed to do that. As for the fat guy, we couldn't see anything where as Borat we could. Is there rule if how many times genitalia can be seen in a R rated movie? Dumb question I know, but still a little curious.By the way, I will NEVER get that image out of my head as long as I shall live.

[Mr. Blonde]

12. I'm sure some of it was the comedic effect of

having the black bar extend down to his knee, and best I could tell Azmat had his own censor with his fat hanging over enough to hide his business.

[Boston Critic]

5. Impressive opening

It should be added that "Santa Clause 3" was thrown away with the only press screening the night before the opening meaning that the reviews would be buried in Saturday's newspapers, the lowest circulation of the week.

[JackBeck]

7. We went to see it last night and 3 shows were sold out.

We went at 6pm to buy tickets for the 8:30 showing and didn't get to see it because it was already sold out. Decided to try another day.

[mark0rama]

8. Brutally, painfully, wildly inappropriately hilarious

Lots o' squirmy moments for me, especially Borat's ridiculous and completely ill-informed anti-Semitism.

Too bad for Fox that they got cold feet; they made an 11th hour decision to cut back the opening weekend from 2,000 screens to the 800-some it opened on.

[Ekirh]

9. Well

I guess he avoids being execute ;).

[jpak]

10. Bob Barr!!!!

:rofl: