'Inception' stays at the head of the table, with 'Dinner for Schmucks' close behind

By Sarah Sluis

For the third week in a row, Inception led the pack at the box office. The dreamy sci-fi movie dipped just 35% to $27.3 million, for a total of $193 million. That means the movie will cross the $200 million mark within the next few days. If it continues to drop around 30% for the rest of its run, it will finish just shy of $300 million.

Debuting in second place, the Steve Carell-led Dinner for Schmucks rang up $23.3 million. Based on the French comedy Le Dner des Cons, the remake received mixed reviews (averaging 51% on Rotten Tomatoes). The question here is if the movie will end up with a run similar to Carell's April release Date Night, which opened to $25 million but finished with a figure four times its opening weekend. The tamer PG-13 Date Night, which also co-starred a woman, has more of a mass-market appeal, but Schmucks features Carell as an oblivious buffoon somewhat similar to his Michael Scott character on "The Office," which could draw in audiences.

The idea of pet movies as box-office gold suffered a setback with the $12.5 million debut weekend of Cats & Dogs 2: The Revenge of Kitty Galore. The first Cats & Dogs, which released ages ago in 2001,

opened to $21.7 million. With all the original fans of the series now in their teen years, it's no wonder the sequel failed to generate significant buzz.

Zac Efron was able to secure a $12.1 million opening for his romantic drama Charlie St. Cloud, playing a sensitive young man overwrought with guilt over the death of his younger brother. Awareness and intent to see was high among teen girls, but for the movie to open higher it needed to

appeal to broader audience. Efron can enjoy the fact that his weepie romantic movie played better than that of the competition. Twilighter Robert Pattinson's Remember Me opened to just $8 million in March.

On the specialty front, The Kids Are All Right expanded yet again, going from 201 to 847 theatres and bringing in $3.4 million for a total that's now hovering just under the $10 million mark.

Get Low, starring Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, and Billy Murray, had an equally starry debut in four theatres with a per-screen average of $22,700. The Weinstein Co.'s The Concert averaged $10,000 per screen on two screens, and the documentary Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist, Rebel earned $10,000 on one screen.

This Friday, Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell take on the buddy cop comedy in The Other Guys, and Step Up 3D brings urban dancing to theatres everywhere.