Cerebral movie lovers can rejoice. Christopher Nolan’s Inception handily won at the box office over the weekend, raking in over $60 Million. The film made over $3 Million on midnight showings Thursday night, and netted $20 Million on Friday, a true testament of the loyalty of Nolan’s fans. Marketing a cryptic plot is no easy task, so Warner Brothers has to be happy about the opening weekend.
On the other hand, it might be a long climb to recoup the $160 Million budget. The film will have to rely on repeat business from fans to maintain box office legs. Everyone I know who really liked the movie has said they want to see it again, but it remains to be seen whether people actually follow through with those intentions. At any rate, it is nice to see an original film have a good opening weekend.
Despicable Me came in at number two, dropping about 42% from its opening weekend, which was a little higher than I would have anticipated. It still earned a healthy $32 Million, and has grossed $118 Million in ten days. Disney’s wide release The Sorcerer’s Apprentice earned a paltry $17 Million, far below most industry expectations. The film opened last Wednesday, so its cumulative stands at $24 Million. The film had a budget of $150 Million, so unless it performs well overseas, it stands little chance of recouping its budget.
Twilight: Eclipse dropped off 57% from last weekend, which is a fairly significant drop. It managed $13 Million, and has made almost $265 Million in three weeks. Toy Story 3 is still doing well after five weeks, earning $11 Million over the weekend. Its cumulative now stands at $362 Million.
Outside of the top five, Predators dropped like a stone (72%) and came in at eighth place, earning $6.8M. The Last Airbender has lost any hope of having box office legs as it dropped 55% in its third week. The film has earned $114 Million, and had a budget of $150 Million.
Indie releases Cyrus and The Kids Are All Right continue to do brisk business in limited release. The Kids Are All Right had a $27,000 per screen average, which is rather astonishing.
Next week we’ll be adding a little Salt to the box office report.
Sources: Box Office Mojo, Entertainment Weekly
