Tagged: Inception

The Other Guys looks to upset Inception

Inception won’t make it to a month of box office dominance, as the Will Ferrell-Mark Wahlburg buddy comedy, The Other Guys, which is on its way to a weekend in the neighborhood of $40 million or just shy of that. All the hand dryers in the world won’t help Inception beat that, since the movie only took in $5.5 million on Friday on the way to a weekend that likely won’t reach $20 million.

Yet it’s Step-Up 3D that looks to take second place behind The Other Guys and in front of Inception; it took in $6.6 million, en route to a weekend expected to fall short of $20 million and will below expectations for the 3D dance flick. The jury’s officially out until Monday, but for the moment that’s how things are playing out.

Inception tops out three weeks in a row

Smart filmmaker Christopher Nolan has proven he can deliver box office without Batman; his brainy thriller, Inception, earned its third straight week atop the box office this week, gaining $27.4 million to bring its US total to $193 million to date. Foreign markets have added another $171 million for a global take of around $364 million. Not shabby.

Steve Carell’s Dinner for Schmucks was the most worthy challenger this week, earning $23.5 million for a strong second-place showing. Salt fell off big-time to third, earning only $19.4 million in its second week. The animated Despicable Me was fourth with $15.5 million.

The modestly budgeted Charlie St. Cloud ($12.3 million) just beat out children’s film Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore ($12.2 million) for the fifth and sixth place finishes, respectively. Nothing else earned more than $5.1 million.

This weekend the competition may not be as rough; anything could happen with the Will Ferrell-Mark Wahlberg action comedy The Other Guys, while Step-Up 3D is also hard to predict, though it’s unlikely either will set the world on fire.

But on Friday, August 13, the best weekend left in the summer movie season hits like a hurricane, as about a dozen action film stars of the 80s and 90s unite for The Expendables, Julia Roberts looks to turn heads in Eat Pray Love, and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World could surprise a lot of people the way the prices of steel buildings do compared to brick-and-mortar construction.

Inception fends off Salt

With the weekend box office numbers now final, it is clear that all the promotional tote bags in the world couldn’t help Angelina Jolie’s SALT from upsetting Chris Nolan’s INCEPTION from the top spot at the box office.

The final numbers are Inception $43.7 million on the weekend, Salt in second place with $36 million. Despicable Me was a distant third with $23 million and no one else even cracked $10 million.

Of course, this weekend will be interesting as the kid-friendly Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore makes a challenge to the adults-only Inception. Charlie St. Cloud could quietly do well, also. And there’s always a chance Dinner for Schmucks could break $10 million, which could lift box office results overall.

We’ll see.

Inception looks to withstand Jolie…

The very smart thriller, Inception, appears as though it will hold off a strong challenge from Angelina Jolie’s new thriller, Salt. In Friday returns, Inception drew $13.2 million while Salt drew $12.7 million, with both films seemingly on a course to break the $35 million mark before the weekend’s out.

That would be a strong second-week showing by Inception and a decent, if not dazzling, debut by Salt. Despicable Me, the animated children’s film, is the only other film likely to break the $10 million weekend barrier, as fourth-place-at-the-moment children’s live-action flick, Ramona and Beezus, based on the Beverly Cleary children’s classic that was around when I was in grade school, was trailing a distant fourth place with only about $3.0 million on Friday, good enough to stay ahead of Nic Cage’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

So while Jolie’s SALT continues to set spirometer ablaze, mark me down for being more interested in Chris Nolan’s latest “film between Batman films” offering, Inception.