'Inception' overpowers 'Salt'

By Sarah Sluis

Remaining in star form, Inception dropped a scant 30% in its second weekend to grab the first-place spot and another $43.5 million. Strong weekday grosses took the movie over $100 million just as the weekend started, bringing its cumulative total to $143.6 million. While the first weekend received the support of younger moviegoers, audiences over the age of 35 helped keep ticket sales brisk through its second weekend.

Salt was not far behind, debuting to $36.5 million. Because of the star power of Angelina Jolie, as well as its action premise, the movie is expected to perform strongly overseas. Producers are still throwing around the idea of a sequel, but the bigger news here is that yet another original story (Despicable Me, Inception, Salt) opened strongly. Pre-sold titles are not always the answer--here's hoping at least one of those board game adaptations Hollywood's been courting is dead in the water.

Kicking off in sixth place, Ramona and Beezus couldn't rise past the single-digit millions, and finished the weekend with $8 million coming from a largely female, family audience. Fox pegged the budget at just $15 million, however, so this movie

should turn a profit, especially once post-theatrical markets are factored in.

After expanding into over 200 theatres, The Kids Are All Right landed just outside of the top ten, bringing in a total of $2.6 million. The strong showing effectively doubled its cumulative gross, which is now just under $5 million. Next week, Focus plans to raise the number of theatres in its release to 500, which could bring the movie over $10 million if it can maintain its pace.

Returning films in the top ten were a mixed bunch, with about half posting drops in the 20% range, and the other half posting drops in the 40% range. CG animation titles posted minimal drops, with Despicable Me dipping 26% to $24.1 million and Toy Story 3 sliding 24% to $9 million. In a market light on adult comedies, Grown Ups maintained with just a 23% fall to $7.6 million. The remaining movies, all adaptations of some kind, fell more heavily: The Twilight Saga: Eclipse tumbled another 47% to $7 million, and The Sorcerer's Apprentice plunged 45% in its second weekend to $9.8 million. M. Night Shyamalan now has a confirmed miss, with The Last Airbender dropping 46% to $4.1 million. Predators fell the furthest, 59% to $2.8 million--just two weeks after it opened to a healthy $24.7 million.

This Friday, Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore will introduce a new 3D animated title to the summer mix. Charlie St. Cloud will give High School Musical fans Zac Efron in a mature, heart-wrenching role, and Dinner for Schmucks will fill the gap in adult comedies.

Midsummer weekend's dream for 'Inception'

By Sarah Sluis

This week, original films, not franchises, won out at the box office.

Leading the pack, Inception finished up the weekend with $60.4 million, on the high side of expectations.

Midnight screenings drew in $3 million, and both Friday and Saturday brought in similarly-sized crowds before dropping slightly on Sunday. Now that the secret is out about the movie's dream-within-a-dream structure, the blogosphere is diving in and dissecting the movie. The most exhaustive analysis to date comes from a New York Magazine interview with actor Dileep Rao (he plays the chemist). For those that have seen the movie [spoiler alert], his take is this: you can hear the top wobble at the end.

Earning double the amount of newbie release The Sorcerer's Apprentice, the original animation title Despicable Me dipped just 42% to finish in second place with $32.7 million, while Apprentice debuted to just $17.3 million. Poor reviews, a muddled

marketing campaign (in my opinion), and just a general confusion of how this Sorcerer's Apprentice related to a Mickey Mouse Fantasia sequence may have contributed to this family-friendly movie's lackluster performance. Despicable Me has the advantage of being fresh and original, and in the land of so many remakes, it's nice to see an original movie open strongly and hold its ground.

That came-out-of-nowhere kid-driven musical Standing Ovation drew in minuscule audiences, ending up with just $361,000 and a pitiful per-screen average of $361. This movie will likely screen much better on DVD at preteen sleepovers.

Among returning movies in the top ten, Predators suffered the worst fate. The reboot of the action/horror franchise plummeted 72% to $6.8 million. Toy Story 3 continued its slow float downward, losing 44% of last week's gross but still finishing with $11.7 million. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse slid down a steep slope, dropping 57% to $13.5 million. Grown Ups held the strongest, with just a 36 % dip for a total of $10 million.

After four weeks of increases at the box office, Cyrus fell 16% in its fifth week to grab the eleventh-place spot and $1.07 million, bringing its total to $5 million. The new indie on the block, The Kids Are All Right, is moving in the opposite direction. The family-centered comedy-drama went from seven to 38 locations, doubled its gross, and finished with $1.02 million, and a standout $27,000 per-screen average.

This Friday, kids' literary adaptation Ramona & Beezus will draw in the young crowd, while the rogue spy movie Salt will lure in audiences with headliner Angelina Jolie.