Borat, starring British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen as the boorish, anti-Semitic alter ego he introduced to US audiences on Da Ali G Show, opened on Friday amid some of the most intense media hype of any film this year.

Ticketer Fandango. com reported brisk business for Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

Borat accounted for 73% of the agency's advance ticket sales this week. In a poll, 96% of Fandango customers said they planned to see the movie this weekend.

Industry experts said the faux documentary, featuring Cohen's Borat character on a road trip across the US, would likely gross $8m to $15m this weekend, a tidy sum for a film that cost only about $18m to make.

Borat is currently at number two in the Irish box office.