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We are slowly heading to the dog days of summer at the multiplexes with only a few top guns left to shoot. Judd Apatow and his friends hope that their latest isn’t one of those dogs and they are probably right as Funny People should easily take first place this weekend.

Funny People is the third film from writer-director Judd Apatow whose last two films (The 40 Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up) were box office hits:

With Adam Sandler leading the cast, Universal should have a solid hit here too. I see Funny People taking top spot with about $35M.

Last weekend’s number one film was G-Force, the latest Disney 3-D CGI offering. It grossed a surprising $33M last week. With no real competition for kids dollars this weekend, I predict a low 30% drop and $22M over the three day period.

Third will go to the romantic comedy The Ugly Truth. With competition from the other adult-themed comedy Funny People, The Ugly Truth should see a bit of a decline. It should fall about 35% and gross $17.5M.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince saw a high drop last weekend (62%) but that drop should stabilize this week as the film opens in the higher-ticket priced 3-D IMAX screens this weekend. I’m guessing it will drop 45% for a three-day total of $16.5M.

Fifth will go to the second new release of the weekend, Aliens in the Attic. This cheap-looking kids film won’t make much of dent at the box office and competition from the Disney-branded G-Force should hurt it. I’m going higher on this one and guessing no more than $13M.

The final new release of the week is the thriller The Collector. It’s from the creators of the incredibly successful Saw franchise. Orphan, another thriller which opened last week, made a solid $12M in the middle of summer and I see this one hitting similar ground. No star power will hurt this one, though. I’m thinking $10M over three days.

Ice Age 3 should hold steady as it lost a lot of its 3-D theatres and business to G-Force last week, giving it an exaggerated drop of 52%. It should level out to a 40% drop and $5M.

The thriller Orphan was a surprise last week, taking in $12M. Horror fans usually see their movies in the first three days thus showing big drops in their subsequent weekends. Orphan should be no different and the reviews are just killing it. I see a 65% fall for a $4.5M weekend.

In ninth is the number one film of the year, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. It fell 40% last week and it’s going to drop harder this week as those who wanted to see it have already and it loses all its IMAX screens to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Tenth is a bit of a guessing game right now. The Hangover has held up really well and should take this spot but expansions of (500) Days of Summer and The Hurt Locker could see one of these taking this position. In any case, the film landing here will make about $3M.

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