As the box office numbers for the past weekend were tallied, most people were paying attention to the success of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and the second week drop off for Bruno, but in amongst all those ticket sales there was another record being broken. Todd Phillips’s The Hangover passed the $235 million mark domestically, making it the highest-grossing R-rated comedy ever. If you can believe it, the previous record holder was Beverly Hills Cop, which amassed $234 million back in 1984/85.

It was pretty clear even before it hit theatres that The Hangover was going to do well, but I don’t think anyone expected it to make quite this much money without any major stars in it. It just goes to show that for a good summer comedy, slow and steady wins the race; they make their money over time as word of mouth builds, as opposed to the big special effects blockbusters which destroy the box office in a weekend and then quickly disappear. I don’t think there’s any question now that a sequel to The Hangover is going to happen sooner rather than later.