Weekend Box Office: It's official, 'Inception' has dominated for the second week in a row

As expected, Chris Nolan's Inception met the projections that we laid out yesterday to come in on top of the box office top ten this weekend, while Salt-- also as expected-- landed in second place.  After some handwringing on the part of Warner Bros. that Inception might be too "smart" for the masses, it would appear that everyone's understanding it just fine.  And, if they're not understanding it, maybe they're going back for a second helping.  It all adds up to good news for the Brothers Warner, but it's bad news for The Sorcerer's Apprentice, which is bombing at about the same rate as Prince of Persia as we speak.  Keep on reading for the full box office report from this weekend, my gentle Examiner readers...

Yesterday, we reported that Inception was going to finish out the weekend with $40m, and it looks as though-- just like last weekend's estimate-- that was slightly lower than the actual total.  Also higher than expected (but slightly less so) was Angelina Jolie's Salt, which is nipping at Chris Nolan's heels in second place.  The biggest story, though, oughtta be the disastrous turnout for Nic Cage's The Sorcerer's Apprentice, which is dying a quiet death in theaters right now.  Apparently, audiences weren't thrilled by the trailers enough to put asses in seats, and Disney's probably on the phone with Jerry Bruckheimer right now trying to figure out how to get Pirates of The Caribbean 4 into theaters even sooner (no, not really-- calm down).  Let's take a closer look at the final tallies, folks:

1. INCEPTION: $44 million for the weekend

Yep, Inception was able to squeek out a few more million dollars than the $40m which had been projected yesterday, falling a scant 31% since last weekend to land at $44m.  The film's current total is somewhere in the neighborhood of $145m, which is great news for Warner Bros, who spent roughly $200m bringing Nolan's dreams to life.  That said, though, the fall-off from last week's total was remarkably small, and by all estimates Inception should have some pretty strong legs.  Besides, it's one of-- if not the-- most beloved film of the summer.  Congrats are in order for all involved.  Go see it again, folks: it's even better the second time.  By the way, if you haven't heard this rumor yet, you probably should.

2. SALT: $36.5 million for the weekend

So, there's the answer: Salt came within $7.5 million of snagging the top spot away from Inception.  Judging from the general feeling of "Meh" that Salt's trailers seemed to be met with (they had Angie at Comic-Con this weekend, pandering up a storm for the geeks to try and boost the opening weekend's take), Salt might not have the longest shelf-life of the films currently in the top five.  In case you're curious, the film's sitting at a not-terrible-but-also-not-great 55% on RottenTomatoes.  Sounds about right.  Frankly, I'm a little surprised: I would've thought "Angelina Jolie Fatigue" would've kept this opening closer to $25m.  Just goes to show ya...

3. DESPICABLE ME: $24.5 million

Another $24.5 million means a new cumulative total of $162.5m for Despicable Me, which is pretty damn impressive considering it's not A) a Pixar film or B) a sequel.  Of course, now that it's proven to be a success, there'll likely be about fourteen Despicable Me sequels arriving over the next nine months, so be prepared to have this one beaten into the ground for you, as well.  For what it's worth-- and before any backlash sets in-- I really enjoyed Despicable Me.  I'd highly recommend it if you've got kids, and if you don't, go for the 3D.

4. THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE: $9.8 million

Whenever I was in a theater running trailers for this flick, you could feel waves of "I don't give a sh-t" coming off the audiences.  Seriously, the apathy was palpable.  As such, it shouldn't really be that much of a surprise to learn that the film's dropped a whopping 47% since last weekend, but Deadline's saying that this should be considered a "strong hold".  Considering that the film cost well over $100m to put together (and closer to $200m, once you figure in all those bad trailers), this one counts as the second straight bomb for Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney following this summer's Prince of Persia.  Look for Disney to get this thing onto DVD as soon as humanly possible, where it might be given a second chance.

5.  TOY STORY 3: $9.7m for the weekend

In a surprise move up the ladder, Toy Story 3 beat out Ramona and Beezus (good God, can you believe that's really the title?  It's giving me hives just typing that) to move into the number five position.  At this point, we've said everything there is to say about this one.  The new cumulative total on Toy Story 3? A whopping $380m, which might be the biggest box office take thus far for summer, 2010.

I literally had not heard of Ramona and Beezus prior to this weekend, so your guess is as good as mine.  Judging from the photo below, it's about an inappropriate relationship that forms between a babysitter and her young, female charge.  Call me crazy, but that sounds a little high-brow for most pre-teen audiences.  At any rate, Deadline Hollywood tells me the movie only cost $15m, so...bonus.  The film came in at sixth place with $8m.

As for seventh through ninth place, GrownUps, Twilight, and The Last Airbender are still clinging to box office life.  As it stands, the first two are hits (the second being one of the summer's majors), but The Last Airbender just didn't catch on with audiences.  Perhaps it was the onslaught of terrible reviews and the fact that even the show's fans hated the movie?  Yeah, it was probably that.  As for tenth place, Predators made a comeback as expected, further fueling the talk of a sequel for the Nimrod Antal film.  We really dug the movie here at Comedy Examiner HQ, so we say: bring it on.  With more weird alien creatures this time, please.

 Source:examiner.com