Christopher Nolan, who already has one of the top grossing films of all time on his resume (The Dark Knight at over $1 billion), looks to have another winner on his hands with the dream-infiltrating thriller Inception which opened this past weekend. The movie bowed at the Number 1 slot and pulled in an estimated $60 million in its debut and received very strong critical praise as well (and you can read Johnny Jay’s review at this link). And while this one may not reach the heights of The Dark Knight in receipts, it should still do quite well in its theatrical run. Not so lucky over the weekend was the Nicholas Cage starring The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. That film only managed to climb to the Number 3 slot in its debut with an estimated $17 million in receipts which brings it to a total of around $24 million domestically included the tally from its early release. With a budget of $150 million and poor critical returns, this one looks headed toward flop status. At the Number 2 slot over the weekend, the animated Despicable Me enjoyed a decent second outing as it pulled in nearly $33 million. As expected, Twilight: Eclipse continues to show a sharp drop-off in attendance as it slipped to the Number 4 slot over the weekend with $13.5 million in receipts. Still, that one has already racked up over $550 million worldwide. Toy Story 3 dropped to the Number 5 slot with just under $12 million in receipts, but that one has now eclipsed Iron Man 2 as the top money-maker for the Summer with $630 million worldwide vs. $615 million so far for the superhero flick. At the Number 7 slot, The Last Airbender looks like it is on the way out as it brought in $7.5 million this past weekend. That one has only grossed $135 million worldwide so far vs. a $150 million budget. I expected it to play well in the foreign markets, but it has only racked up $20 million there over the past two weeks, though that may be only limited release in that arena [Edit: it has had only limited release so far, with larger distribution to come] . Predators also looks like it is heading for a quick exit as it slipped to the Number 8 slot in its second week. But that one has grossed $78 million worldwide vs. a $40 million budget so it should still be considered a Summer success.
Note that these numbers are estimates of the weekend performance and the dollar amounts and position ranks will change slightly when the final tally comes in. You can see the full Box Office results from the weekend at Box Office Mojo.
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