Box Office: Still A Dream For ‘Inception’

Inception performed remarkably well for its third week in release, and won the weekend with over $27.5 Million. For those keeping track at home, that makes it three weeks in a row at the top spot.

That box office take is a big number for any movie, but it’s especially rewarding for everyone who feared intelligent adult fare wouldn’t stand a chance in summertime, which is usually more typical of “popcorn” action movies.  Now standing at about $193 Million, the film is sure to surpass the coveted $200 Million mark this week.

This bodes well for everyone who enjoys adult drama.  Studios should be somewhat energized from the box office results of Inception.  Hopefully they will be  inclined to   green-light more original (non-franchise, non sequel) projects.  Note: the key word here is should.  Who knows if that will really happen, but one can always hope.

New release Dinner For Schmucks took the number two spot with $23.3 Million.  This is slightly better than two of Paul Rudd’s recent movies.  Both Role Models and I Love You Man made just under $20 Million on their opening weekend.  This is probably in line with studio expectations, but I thought it would make a little closer to $30M over the weekend.

Angelina Jolie’s spy-driven action flick Salt came in at number three with $19.7 Million, but it dropped off 46% from last weekend, not a good sign of things to come for the movie. Still,  it has made about $70 Million in its first ten days in release.

Despicable Me came in fourth.  It is now boasting a cumulative total of $190 Million, and will become the first bona fide hit for Universal in 2010. The studio has had a string of box office stinkers thus far, including The Wolfman, Repo Men, Robin Hood, MacGruber, and more.

Families didn’t seem to have much love for Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore. The  $85 Million movie arrived with a thud, only grossing $12.5 Million for the weekend.

Zac Efron’s Charlie St. Cloud made about the same amount of money, $12.1 Million, but it played on about 1,000 fewer theaters than Cats and Dogs.  Before Efron fans get too excited, it should be noted that the movie dropped a staggering 32% from Friday to Saturday.  Seems everyone who wanted to see the movie came out on Friday. If you wanted to see this movie, better make it quick, because it won’t be around for long.

In other notable news, Toy Story 3 is closing in on $400 Million (it now stands at $390.)  Indie darling The Kids Are All Right expanded to 847 theaters, and made $3.4 Million.

Sources: Deadline, Box Office Mojo, Entertainment Weekly