In a surprising turn of events, the power of talking animals with gadgets won out over the power of man-boy wizards, as G-Force bested Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince at the weekend box office. I had expected the latest Disney picture to do well thanks in no small part to celebrity voices and scatological humor, but I hadn't expected Harry Potter's box office to drop over 60% from last week's big number! That's a serious collapse.

Still, the weekend was close. G-Force grossed $32 million, while Harry Potter grossed $30 million. Harry has passed $221 million in two weeks time in the US and $405 million worldwide, its second weekend cooled slightly from the last Harry Potter film. Likewise, G-Force is no Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs (fifth place, $8.2 million) in terms of opening strength.

The Ugly Truth was a surprisingly strong opening. A least it was to me, who apparently has no idea what people like or want to see.  Gerard Butler and Katherine Heigl in a romantic comedy? I guess that's what people want, as the Truth picked up an impressive $27 million this weekend, good for third place. Orphan, which I had assumed would do really well this weekend being a killer child horror movie, took fourth place on $12.7 million, but I had assumed it would do better. I guess the American public has had enough of Vera Farmiga's issues with adopting killer children after Joshua. 

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen falls out of the top five with a sixth place, 8 million dollar weekend. For the record, Transformers 2 has made $785 million internationally. No, I can't explain it either.

The Hangover just keeps on keeping on. Once again, it holds its audience very well, despite losing theaters. The film did drop to seventh, but it brought in $6.465 million. The Proposal also continues to hold its audience, dropping to eighth from fifth but bringing in $6.423 million. Given that both movies are still hanging onto the crowds and are well past $100 million, both camps have to be incredibly pleased. The folk behind The Proposal should be especially happy given that their film fought off a challenge from The Ugly Truth and still held its own.

Public Enemies (ninth place, $4.1 million) and Bruno (tenth place, $2.79 million), however, haven't had legs at all. In fact, both have to be considered disappointments, though probably not flops in the traditional sense. Public Enemies has finally broken even internationally, crossing $112 million, while Bruno has been mild at best considering just how huge Borat was (over $260 million internationally).

Out this weekend is another mixed bag of releases, except instead of a romantic comedy there's a dramedy. Bowing is the family adventure film Alien In The Attic, which I know nothing about. The Collector is the horror in the mix (and it should do better since, unlike Orphan, it is a supernatural-looking horror). The dramedy is the long-awaited Judd Apatow project, Funny People. I know his name gets thrown around a lot these days, but this is actually a movie he wrote and directed.

As such, I have no idea what's going to win next weekend, and I won't even try to guess.