Christopher Nolan’s Inception proved its mettle at the box office by taking the weekend crown for the second week in a row. The cerebral sci-fi film dropped just 31%, the second smallest decline by a widely released film all year. Inception earned $43.5 million in its second frame and has now amassed an impressive ten-day total $143.7 million. Word of mouth remains strong for the movie, which is doing exceptionally well for an original science fiction release. With relatively weak competition next week (Dinner for Schmucks, Charlie St. Cloud, Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore), Inception could make it three in a row next week.
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Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): July 23 - 25, 2010 | ||||||
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|
Film |
Weekend Gross |
Screens |
Avg./ Screen |
Total Gross |
Wk# |
|
1 |
Inception |
$43,505,000 |
3,792 |
$11,473 |
$143,663,000 |
2 |
|
2 |
Salt |
$36,500,000 |
3,612 |
$10,105 |
$36,500,000 |
1 |
|
3 |
Despicable Me |
$24,100,000 |
3,600 |
$6,694 |
$161,700,000 |
3 |
|
4 |
The Sorcerer's Apprentice |
$9,685,000 |
3,504 |
$2,764 |
$42,643,000 |
2 |
|
5 |
Toy Story 3 |
$9,030,000 |
2,766 |
$3,265 |
$379,529,000 |
6 |
|
6 |
Ramona and Beezus |
$8,000,000 |
2,719 |
$2,942 |
$8,000,000 |
1 |
|
7 |
Grown Ups |
$7,600,000 |
2,859 |
$2,658 |
$142,412,000 |
5 |
|
8 |
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse |
$7,033,000 |
3,121 |
$2,253 |
$279,674,000 |
4 |
|
9 |
The Last Airbender |
$4,173,000 |
2,127 |
$1,962 |
$123,264,000 |
4 |
|
10 |
Predators |
$2,850,000 |
1,846 |
$1,544 |
$46,568,000 |
3 |
Its stiffest competition may come from Salt, which stars Angelina Jolie and managed to post a solid, if unspectacular debut with an estimated $36.5 million. Interestingly Tom Cruise turned down the lead in the spy drama Salt in favor of the espionage comedy Knight & Day, which is looking like a bad decision since Salt has brought in more in its first weekend than Knight & Day garnered in its first nine days. Salt played well to both genders (53% female) and skewed slightly older (59% over 25).
Universal’s 3-D toon Despicable Me continues to chug right along, slipping just 27% in its third frame. With $161.5 million already in the bank, Despicable Me is Universal’s highest grossing release in three years.
The limp-wanded Sorcerer’s Apprentice fell to fourth place in its second weekend, earning just an estimated $9.7 million. With just $42.6 million in ten days, the film could have trouble earning more than $75 million domestically, which means it will have to do exceptionally well overseas to make back its $150 million cost.
Another Disney release, Toy Story 3 is faring much better. The Pixar mega-hit earned $9 million in its sixth weekend. With $380 million earned already, Toy Story 3 is certain to break the $400 million mark sometime in August, and it remains the #1 summer 2010 film so far.
Grown Ups earned another $7 million and brought its impressive total to $142.4 million, while The Twilight Saga: Eclipse has now earned nearly $280 million.
Fox’s Predators crashed and burned once again in its third weekend, dropping 59%. The front-loaded science fiction/action pic has now earned $46.5 million domestically. But Predators hasn't done as badly as it might appear at first glance. Since the film has also brought in $48 million overseas and cost just $40 million to produce, it is already in the black and may do well on DVD.
The total gross of the top ten films was up 10% from last year when the hamster-powered G Force debuted to $31.7 million, but down 11% from 2008 when The Dark Knight remained at #1 with a sensational second week total of $75.2 million.
