Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince topped the box office, earning $159.7 mil in five days, making it the best start of all the Potter movies and the sixth highest 5-day gross of all time.  It also broke a foreign box office record with $237 mil in 54 countries.  But this is America, we don’t care about that.

[Pictured: Some vandals dorks in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin have spread Harry Potter fever to the city's stop signs.  I'd assume they had something better to do but it was either this or butter sculpting.]

Elsewhere, Brüno dropped almost 73% in its second weekend, which is a shame because I saw it and wasn’t disappointed in the least (a talking urethra, people!).  It fell to number four and though it’ll earn out, it’s not going to pull Borat numbers.  Meanwhile, The Hangover is a phenomenon at this point, staying at number five in its seventh week of release (Up is the only other movie in the top 10 that’s been out longer, at eight weeks) and grossing almost $236 million total.  And lastly, I Love You Beth Cooper is almost out of the top ten with just $2.7 million, which is $2.7 million more than that flaming diarrhea deserves.  Full top 10 after the jump.

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It’s a sad commentary on the state of terrorism when a former member of a group whose mission statement includes suicide bombing calls someone a liar and threatens with a lawsuit.

Ayman Abu Aita, who is labeled in the Brüno movie as a “terrorist group leader,” slammed Sacha Baron Cohen as a “big liar” who “made up stories” when describing to CBS’s David Letterman last week [above, via WarmingGlow] the way he met Aita at an undisclosed location. Aita said he is pursuing legal action.

Apparently Aita is offended at being labeled a “terrorist”, because although he served in the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades from 2000 until 2003, he says he’s reformed after a two-year stint in Israeli prison, and is currently a representative in the Palestinian Authority, in President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party.

“I thought I needed security,” Baron Cohen told Letterman. “It was in the West Bank. The guy picks this secret location. … The terrorist comes in with his bodyguard.”  Aita, however, says the interview took place at a private section of a popular restaurant called Everest in the town of Beit Jala, which is in a section in the West Bank under Israeli control. [WND via /Film]

Let’s not split hairs here: Cohen called him a terrorist, and clearly, he used to be a terrorist.  Does that mean he can’t still be called a terrorist?  Try telling Danny Trejo he’s not gangster.  He’ll cut your belly open, I’ve seen him do it.  As for calling the restaurant a “secret location,” to be fair, Zagat did call it “the West Bank’s best-kept secret.”  Though they weren’t huge fans of the Falafel, which they called “decent, but nothing to blow yourself up for.”

Opening this weekend:

Brüno
Duh.  Of course I’ll be seeing this, not that I expect it to be half as funny as Borat.  Austrian accents just aren’t as funny as Kazakh ones.  Probably because of the whole trying to exterminate the Jews thing.  Anyway, you can also check out Brüno doing the Letterman Top 10 List after the jump, though I must warn you that it isn’t funny at all.  Maybe Paul Shaffer should’ve added more wacky sound effects.  That guy sure is a character.

I Love You Beth Cooper
I’ve never wanted to punch a movie trailer as bad as I do this one.  It’s so unfunny and cloying and pandering and insulting.  Every high school clique comes in threes.  Every bully has henchmen.  Every hot chick is a cheerleader.  Every nerd is a hero, even if he’s ugly and delusional and kind of a dick and the actor playing him is 27.  Every time I watch the trailer I find myself rooting for the bully to catch and beat the crap out of everyone.  Go f-ck yourselves, everyone involved with this smegma-filled yak placenta. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some Cheeto crumbs to suck from my fingers.

STILL IN THEATERS:

Anvil: The Story of Anvil
I DEMAND THAT YOU SEE THIS MOVIE.  There aren’t a lot movies that make you laugh so hard you have to hold back while you stifle tears at the same time.  I hadn’t seen it until this week and I have no idea why I waited so long. I should’ve been there opening weekend.  There aren’t 30 seconds of footage in it that aren’t priceless.  The drummer’s sister is named “Droid.”  80s metal.  Canadian accents.  This is far too little space to tell you everything that was great about it, but I’m pleading with you, see it before it’s gone.

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Landline TV‘s videos keep getting better, which is nice, because they save me the trouble of expending all my energy on brilliant industry analysis and photoshopping Paula Abdul on top of Mexicans.  Anyway, this is their first video since Megan Fox is CGI, and this one’s about the special Homeland Security task force created to deal with an increase in movie quoting caused by the release of Brüno.  Haha, stupid frat boys with their beer bongs and their movie quoting.  What a bunch of losers.  (*looks around*)  (*whispers*)  Psst, Big Lebowski quotes are still cool, right?

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Brüno recently did a photoshoot for the latest issue of GQ in which goofed around with L.A.’s Birmingham high school football team.  Now the school superindendent is angry about it because… uh… it takes the attention away from the fact that most of his students can’t read?

The stunt has incensed Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. Ramon C. Cortines, adding fuel to a debate over whether Birmingham, in Lake Balboa, should be allowed to convert to a charter school. The charter conversion is up for a vote before the school board Wednesday. “This recent GQ thing has not helped matters,” Cortines said today. “We’ve allowed our students to be used, and not in the most glamorous circumstances, either.” [LATimes]

Actually, the students used you.  Namely your jerseys.  Wait, what’s this about charter school?

[Birmingham HS] has broken away from the nation’s second-largest school district. The move came one day after officials with the Los Angeles Unified School District disciplined two administrators over violating the district’s policy on using the school’s name in the film. The charter proposal ends the district’s authority over school employees, so the disciplinary action will be moot. [Yahoo]

Wow, so a school gets one magazine spread and suddenly it’s too good to hang with the schools it grew up with?  Sounds like L.A. alright.  Stay tuned for next week, when Birmingham High develops an eating disorder and f*cks David Spade.