Inception fended off competition from three new openers this weekend, claiming the box office top spot for the third week in a row.
Totalling a not unimpressive $193m, it took $27m this weekend despite attendance slipping by over 35%. The nearest contender for the crown? Dinner For Schmucks , which settled for second place and an opening haul of $23m.
Angelina Jolie’s Salt remained a healthy draw, dropping from second to third and a taking of $19m – could this be the start of a new franchise for the big-lipped one?
Meanwhile, Despicable Me also slipped a spot to fourth with $15m, and newbie Cat & Dogs: The Revenge Of Kitty Galore (ouch) just made it into the top five with a slender first weekend of $12.5m.
Zac Efron’s indie drama Charlie St. Cloud opened in sixth place with $12.1m, which looks positive for his transition from teen dream musicals to more serious fare. And Toy Story 3 remained a top ten mainstay, dropping from fifth to seventh with $5m.
The rest of the top ten had Grown Ups in eighth place ($4.5m), The Sorcerer’s Apprentice in ninth ($4.3m) and Twilight: Eclipse perched precariously in tenth ($3.9m).
Meanwhile, favourable reviews and big buzz meant that the only film that saw an increase in attendance this week was The Kids Are All Right , which nevertheless had to settle for 12th place.
Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.
