Schmucks, Cats, Dogs and Charlie St. Cloud all came out to play at the North American box office this weekend, but none were potent enough to dethrone Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster Inception from the top spot. Of the new arrivals, only the Steve Carell comedy Dinner for Schmucks managed to make much of any real impact, while Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore and Charlie St. Cloud were dead on arrival.
Dropping a mere 36% in its third weekend, Inception extracted an estimated $27.5 million to bring its 17-day total to an excellent $193.3 million. Tuesday will see the Warner smash sail past the $200 million mark. The film is Leonard DiCaprio’s biggest hit since 1997 Titanic and Warner’s biggest film of the year so far. Overseas, the movie has amassed a healthy $170 million so far for a three week global total of $363 million.
Inception did briefly abdicate the number one spot on Friday when the new comedy Dinner for Schmucks debuted with $8.4 million. But while the Christopher Nolan film surged 30% on Saturday, the Jay Roach-directed remake of the French 1998 comedy The Dinner Party dropped in its second day of release which is never a good sign for a new film that doesn’t have a built-in audience. Still, the movie managed $23.3 million for the weekend which was enough to land it in second place. Inception next faces direct competition next weekend with the debut of the Will Ferrell comedy The Other Guys on Friday.
Dropping a spot from second to third but holding up well in its second weekend was the Angelina Jolie action flick Salt with $19.3 million in estimated sales. Off 47% from its debut weekend, the movie has pulled in $70.3 million in ten days and is looking at a final tall north of $100 million with plenty more revenue to come in from overseas markets in the weeks to come.
Steve Carell’s other comedy in the top five, the animated smash Despicable Me, displayed another strong hold this weekend as the film pulled in an estimated $15.5 million in sales. Off a mere 34%, the gross stands at $190 million to date while looking at a possible final gross of $240-250 million. The film is the first Universal Pictures release to hit the $200 million mark since The Bourne Ultimatum hauled in $227 million three summers ago.
Fifth place went to the new 3D family comedy Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore with a flat $12.5 million from a wide 3,705 screen count. A sequel to the all-but-forgotten 2001 sleeper hit Cats and Dogs, Kitty couldn’t sway families away from the likes of holdovers Despicable Me and Toy Story 3, even if it were the new multi-dimension offering from Hollywood. Reviews were, not surprisingly, bad.
Zac Efron also encountered audience resistance with his new drama Charlie St. Cloud which debuted outside the top five to a weak $12.1 million from 2,718 screens. While Zac’s legion of young female fans turned out on Friday to the tune of $5.4 million, they stayed away in large amounts on Saturday (down 32% from Friday) and Sunday (a projected 30% drop from Saturday) indicating that those who saw it Friday had only two words for their friends: Stay. Away.
For its seventh week in the marketplace, Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 3 moved closer to the $400 million mark by grossing an estimated $5 million for the weekend. Off 44%, the film’s total now stands at a mighty $389.7 million to date. Overseas, the animated juggernaut has made $436 million thus far, making for a superb global haul of $826 million to date. In eighth place was another long-running summer hit, Adam Sandler’s Grown Ups. Adam and his gang joked their way to an estimated $4.5 million for the weekend and a new to-date domestic total of $151 million.
Freefalling 55% from last weekend to land in ninth place this weekend was the Nicolas Cage dud The Sorcerer’s Apprentice with $4.3 million in ticket sales and a new to-date gross of $51.9 million. Overseas, Cage has conjured up $40 million in sales so far. Rounding out the top ten was The Twilight Saga: Eclipse which collected $4 million in sales for its fifth weekend to bring its total to the $288 million mark.
Next week Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg are The Other Guys while all of your unanswered questions from Step Up to the Streets are answered in Step Up 3D. Predict what these newcomers along with a trio of holdovers will make next weekend in our Weekend Box Office Prophet Game for a chance at Blu-ray prizes.
– Shawn Fitzgerald
