First look: ‘G-Force’ triumphs at box office, ‘Potter’ drops 61%

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The tables got turned on ‘Harry Potter’ this weekend, as ‘G-Force’ took a bigger chunk of the family audience than expected and came in a surprising No. 1 at the box office.

Disney’s lighthearted, effects-heavy action flick starring guinea pigs sold $32.2 million in tickets in the U.S. and Canada, according to studio estimates. Aided by about 1,600 theaters that played it in digital 3-D, which brings a ticket-price surcharge, the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced picture is off to a healthy start at the box office. If audience interest remains strong for a few weeks, it could end up grossing more than $100 million.

The only potential worry for Disney is that the film’s Saturday gross, $11.7 million, was virtually even with what it earned on Friday. Typically, family movies earn substantially more on Saturday, thanks to matinee shows. That indicates potentially weak word of mouth.

A similar problem appears to be afflicting ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,’ which fell 61% on its second weekend and landed at No. 2 with $30 million. The decline is the biggest for any film in the series since the third, ‘Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,’ in 2004. After a huge opening day, audiences seems to be losing interest in ‘Half-Blood Prince’ faster than previous ‘Potter’ films.

Warner Bros. may get a boost next weekend, however, when it will be able to show the new ‘Harry Potter’ movie in more than 100 Imax theaters currently playing ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.’

‘Half-Blood Prince,’ which cost $250 million to produce and about $155 million to market and distribute worldwide, has now grossed $221.8 million in the U.S. Weekend returns from foreign countries weren’t immediately available but will likely push the film to more than $500 million worldwide after the picture’s big international launch last week.

Sony Pictures had a solid start for its romantic comedy ‘The Ugly Truth.’ Despite overwhelmingly negative reviews, the $38-million movie starring Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler earned a studio-estimated $27 million.

Horror film ‘Orphan,’ which Warner Bros. is distributing for Dark Castle, opened to a so-so $12.8 million.

-- Ben Fritz