Why 'Bruno' is No. 1 at the Box Office

Some will find him hilarious, some will find him horribly offensive. That's the point for British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen's newest movie, "Bruno," where he plays a gay Austrian fashion model.

And it's this controversial sense of humor that's rocketed "Bruno" to the top of the North American box office this weekend, according to studio estimates. ("Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" takes second place, while "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" fell to number three.)

Like his previous movie, "Borat," in which Cohen plays a Kazakh reporter investigating American culture, "Bruno" will have some audience members squirming in their seats. While "Borat" played on Americans' superiority complex and hostility to foreigners, "Bruno" taps into the homophobia of those the flamboyant fashion model encounters, as well as that of some of the audience members.

Both "Bruno" and "Borat" fall into the category of the "mockumentary," a documentary-style comedy.

It's too early for much controversy to have arisen, but it seems inevitable that there will be protest over this movie's portrayal of homosexual people and other groups. It will likely be a repeat of the controversy over how "Borat" portrayed Kazakhstan.

With all this controversy, it's not at all surprising that "Bruno" shot to number one at the box office.

It may even be said that the numbers fall a little short of expectations. In the first three days in theaters, "Bruno" sold $30.4 million in tickets, according to media reports. Compare this to the $26.5 million that "Borat" opened to.

But while "Borat" played in only 800 theaters, "Bruno" opened in 2,756 theaters-a lot more venues given the only slight increase in ticket sales. Who knows why, but perhaps the novelty over Cohen's outrageous characters has passed. When the world first met Borat, they had never seen anything like him. Now, Borat has almost become passé, and many people-all Cohen fans, at least-are already familiar with Bruno because of Cohen's TV show.

That's perhaps why, after all the hoopla and publicity, Bruno hasn't garnered many more ticket sales than Borat did.

However, number 1 at the box office is still nothing to sneeze at, and the fact that "Bruno" earned this place just confirms our love for the outrageous and the very fine line between humorous and offensive.

Does "Bruno" cross that line? Did "Borat"? Both movies certainly flirt with that hazy line. We're sure to hear a lot more talk about this movie in coming weeks.