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ShareLOS ANGELES: Borat, a mockumentary featuring a fictional Kazakh reporter asking outrageous questions of Americans, topped the United States and Canadian box office this weekend, industry figures showed on Sunday.
The biting satire, Borat: Cultural Learning of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, raked in $26.4 million in its debut after generating widespread publicity sparked by the Internet, said box office tracker Exhibitor Relations, citing preliminary figures.
British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, of Ali G fame, displaying a bushy mustache and tenuous grasp of English, plays a Kazakh reporter Borat, a sexist, anti-Semitic buffoon who manages to expose some equally boorish Americans in his journey across the United States.
While Borat received rave reviews from film critics, the government of Kazakhstan has been less enthusiastic and the Anti-Defamation League has raised concerns that Borat's anti-Semitism (though Cohen himself is a Jew) might not be construed as satire.
Borat proved more popular than the holiday big budget comedy The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, California-based Exhibitor Relations said.
The animated comedy Flushed Away, about a pampered pet mouse named Roddy St James that is flushed down a toilet and forced to endure the bustling sewers of London, finished in third place with an estimated $19.1 million.
The top earning movie from last weekend, the bloody horror film Saw III, dropped to fourth with a take of $15.5 million.
Director Martin Scorcese's drama The Departed about the South Boston mob -- starring Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio -- ranked fifth with earnings of about $8 million.
The Prestige, about rival magicians in 19th century London, followed in sixth place pulling in $7.8 million.
The remaining films in the top 10 were Flags of Our Fathers earning $4.5 million, Man of the Year at $3.8 million, Open Season with $3.1 million and The Queen at $3 million.
