'Harry Potter' works magic, '500 Days of Summer' heats up weekend movie chart July 17-19

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince had a huge opening weekend, grossing $79.5 and scoring well with critics and audiences, but Up just barely edged it out for the No. 1 spot on the AME weekend movie chart**. Up maintained its No. 8 box-office slot from the previous weekend and posted enough of an advantage among critics and moviegoers (No. 1 tomatometer and IMDB scores vs. No. 6 for Potter) to eke out a victory. Still, it’s the closest any film has come to ousting Up from the top slot since it debuted there eight weeks ago.

The indie romance (500) Days of Summer also had a big debut, averaging a huge $31K per theater to land a No. 12 box-office rating despite playing on only 27 screens. It was a smash with critics, ranking No. 4 at Rotten Tomatoes among the B.O. Top 20, and audiences also swooned, with the film’s 8.3 IMDB rating tying it for No. 3 with The Hangover and Moon.

Elsewhere, The Hurt Locker expanded to 94 screens and bumped up two slots on the AME chart. The acclaimed war pic was the week’s best-reviewed film (including a 93 metacritic score) and has also resonated with audiences to the tune of a 7.7 IMDB tally.

There were a number of films showing impressive legs at the box office this weekend, including The Hangover (down only 16 percent in its 7th week), The Proposal (down just 22 percent), Moon (down 20 percent) and Cheri (falling only 15 percent). Bruno, however, fell a steep 73 percent, the worst second-week drop since Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience fell 77 percent back in February.

The AME weekend movie chart for June 19-21:

1) Up (1).

2) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (NR)

3) The Hangover (2).

4) (500) Days of Summer (NR)

5) Star Trek (3).

6) The Hurt Locker (8)

7) Public Enemies (4)

8) Moon (6)

9) Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (6)

10) Bruno (5)

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**Tired of reading about the latest dumb action flick, lame gross-out comedy or played-out torture porn horror pic that took home the box office crown? Wish the media balanced screaming headlines about box office winners with more stories about “the top reviewed films” or the “films audiences loved the most”?

I’m with ya. And that’s why I’ve devised a new ranking system (see list above) that combines critics’ reviews, audience response and, yes, box office to deliver a comprehensive list of what’s hot in theaters in each weekend. (The previous week’s chart position is listed in parentheses after the film title.)