August is usually when the summer movie season slows down, but that didn't stop The Bourne Ultimatum, the last and most widely acclaimed of trilogy closers released over the three-month frame, from bringing in $70 million on opening weekend. This must break some sort of obscure made-up record, right? Yes! It's the strongest opening ever for a spy thriller and for the month of August, surpassing the $67 million made by the last Rush Hour movie. It also marked a significant improvement over the previous Bourne movies, which have steadily increased their take as the series has progressed, suggesting that people actually, you know, enjoy them (as opposed to feeling some weird cultural obligation to see them along with everybody else in America).
In other openings, the abysmal Disney live-action film Underdog scraped together $12 million for third place, despite not screening for critics. Apparently, some desperate parents will take their children to see anything, so long as there's popcorn and air conditioning. The other wide releases were out-and-out bombs, including Hot Rod, starring the not-ready-for-primetime Andy Samberg, and Bratz: The Movie, which even pre-adolescent girls must have deemed too cynical a commerical venture. In limited release, the Jane Austen arthouse express rolled on with Becoming Jane, which made a healthy $10,000 per-screen average on 100 screens despite middling reviews.
More detailed numbers at Box Office Mojo.