'Bruno' is number one -- but was the market expecting more?

Perhaps. But remember the big story about Borat? How the movie didn't open that wide and how it had a monster per-theater average? How it came out of nowhere and just crushed all the other competitors at the multiplex? I thought there would have been more excitement surrounding the opening of Cohen's new celluloid character. I mean, consider what came in second, News Corp.'s (NASDAQ: NWS) Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. The cartoon is estimated to have brought in about $2 million less than Bruno during its second weekend in the marketplace. And Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) Transformers sequel, which was third, made about $24 million. This alone tells me that better than $30 million was conceivable for Cohen's shtick.

Now, maybe I'm alone in my disappointment. It will be interesting to see what other pundits have to say about the opening statistic. According to Reuters, Universal acquired the film for $42.5 million. This gave the studio North American distribution rights, plus some international markets. A Universal executive was quoted in the article as saying that Bruno will be "very profitable." It better be. GE needs all the hits it can get from its media content division.

If Bruno can gather momentum in the coming weeks, it hopefully should bring in some bucks for GE. Impossible to say exactly how many since we don't know the details of the deal. Plus, we are in the dark when it comes to how much money was spent on opening the project. Even though a movie hit for Universal would never affect trading in GE shares, it remains an important division that has to be watched carefully by shareholders. Since GE still has a lot of work to do when it comes to dealing with its financial exposure, NBC Universal has to pull its weight.

Disclosure: I own GE; positions can change without notice.