Funny People is the dream team collaboration of comedy guru, Judd Apatow and funnyman Adam Sandler. This is the third film for writer/director Apatow after the blazing success of 2005’s The 40 Year Old Virgin ($109.4M total) and 2007’s Knocked Up ($148.8M total). In between directing his own films, he has produced mega comedy hit after mega comedy hit and the name Apatow has basically become a sub-genre of comedy. The movie is about a popular comedy star that learns he is dying from leukemia and is a more serious film than Apatow’s last two efforts. 

Funny People has something going for it that Apatow’s prior films did not, genuine star power in the form of Adam Sandler. Sandler’s track record at the box office speaks for itself. Check out the new Adam Sandler box office chart here. Usually Sandler’s comedies open with about $30M or more and Funny People should be no different. The film does have a few deficits however. The R rating will keep the usual teen friendly Sandler’s audience at bay as will the seriousness of the picture. There is also the 2 and a half hour running time to contend with. Although there is more drama, Funny People is still packed with Apatow’s trademark raunchy humor and will still make a killing at the box office. Look for Adam Sandler to have his 11^th $100M+ hit as Funny People debuts to about $28M this weekend.

Yet another flick aimed at kids opens this weekend; Aliens in the Attic starring Ashley Tisdale of High School Musical fame. The film is about a group of teens who must fight evil aliens that are living in the attic of their vacation home. Aliens looks like a made for TV movie that would’ve been right at home on The Disney Channel or Nickelodeon and won’t make much of an impact at the box office. Aliens also has some major competition from last weekend’s #1 movie, G-Force, not to mention Ice Age 3, Harry Potter and the still viable Transformers 2. Look for Aliens in the Attic to make about $8M this weekend, although I wouldn’t be surprised if it made less.

The final new release is horror film, The Collector, brought to you by the writers of Saw IV, V and VI. The marketing push hasn’t been too strong and with no star power, the movie has zero chance of doing well. The movie is about a burglar who robs the wrong house and becomes involved in a kidnapping. The Collector might collect about $3M this weekend and debut outside of the top 10.

Among holdovers, the furry critters of G-Force will have a steady hold this weekend, dropping a reasonable 44% to gross another $17.8M. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will finally enter IMAX locations this weekend and should drop only about 40% to conjure up another $17.7M. Last weekend’s horror entry Orphan (read my review here) should fall about 55% to gross $5.8M. To see the rest of my predictions, check out the chart below.

Check back Monday for this weekend's results and be sure to follow FilmGo.net on Twitter for updates throughout the weekend.