5 Reasons Why Salt Will Be Bigger Than Inception
Can you feel the excitement? In a mere four days, Inception will hit theaters, melt your face and take its rightful place as the biggest non-animated film of the summer. At least until Salt comes out next week and blows Inception out of the water. Wait, what? Ahead, Movieline dissects why Angelina Jolie's summer action spectacle is poised to win the box office war with Christopher Nolan's pedigreed mind-bender.
· Angelina Jolie
While Leonardo DiCaprio is forced to share the Inception marketing campaign with a cadre of character actors -- he didn't even get Russell Hammond status in the movie poster! -- Angelina Jolie is the marketing campaign for Salt. And you know why? She's the biggest actress in the world and probably behind only Will Smith and Johnny Depp on the worldwide-fame scale. People love Jolie; they like Leonardo DiCaprio. Don't believe me? DiCaprio only has one $40-plus million opener on his resume (Shutter Island), Jolie has three.
· The release date
After Salt gets released on July 23, the summer might as well be over from a four-quadrant standpoint. To wit: The remaining releases are niche films with specific target audiences like Eat, Pray, Love, The Other Guys and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. It just feels like Salt could be the one film that not only has legs, but will appeal to a wide variety of demographics. Inception probably will too -- if only it didn't slam into Salt seven days after its release.
· Running time
As Salt Fan Club president Jeffrey Wells revealed, Salt runs 95 minutes without credits; Inception runs for 148 minutes. Based on simple time telling skills, that means theaters will be able to squeeze more showings of Salt into a single day than Nolan's epic. And that means a greater potential for dollars that even Inception's IMAX screens won't make up for.
· Accessibility
Without even seeing Salt, you can describe it to your friends in three words: Jolie as Bourne. Try using three words for Inception: Leo's dream heist? Matrix with dreams? Bond as Matrix? Leo Ocean's Matrix? Critics love it? Um, yeah. Inception might be better than Salt, but it certainly isn't as straightforward.
· Expectations
The killer: With a sprawling cast, the "From the director of The Dark Knight" tag and maximum ubiquity, people are just plain expecting Inception to be the greatest movie of all-time (something critics are stoking with the comparisons to Stanley Kubrick). If/when Inception predictably falls short of all this hype, the backlash will begin fast and hard. Meanwhile, no one is expecting Salt to be anything other than a good-time action film with a major star doing crazy stunts. Advantage: Angelina.
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Inception IS NOT a summer movie.
I think you're underestimating the power of Inception's mind-bending visuals to draw people in. Sure, people love action movies and _Salt_ will be a great success, but if there's anything the summer movie crowd loves more than straight action, it's the type of amireallyseeingthis?? visuals that have been teased again and again in Inception's advertising.
You describe it as "Jolie as Bourne", I describe it as "look, another movie with Jolie as a Secret Agent-type bitch".
Like Angelina Jolie jumping off the 59th Street bridge and onto an SUV?
I think the Inception visuals are more like, "What am I seeing?" than "Am I really seeing?" Without the context of the story, they just seem cold.
That's not three words.
Rewind to late 2009: 5 Reasons why Sherlock Holmes will beat Avatar!
I disagree about _Inception_'s visuals, but point taken. I don't deny that _Salt_ is going to provide some crazy eye candy, but the bottom line is that you're still supposed to buy that it could actually go down the way you see it happening. The limitless possibilities of what can happen to time and space in dreams... I think that's a major draw for _Inception_.
I hear that -- and believe me, I love the Inception visuals. That shot in the trailer of the coast falling into the ocean (or whatever is happening there) gives me goosebumps.
Those hydrangeas-loving Russian spies who recently got busted might give Salt a little bump, with undercover espionage back in everyone's mind.
Jolie's lips look like a "Bad Joke"
I guess Titanic never really did well at the box office, did it?
It never opened above $40 million, so there's that. It also wasn't a hit because of DiCaprio. Unless you think Avatar was a hit because of Sam Worthington.
"DiCaprio only has one $40-plus million opener on his resume (Shutter Island), Jolie has three."
Yeah but two of those Jolie movies Tomb Raider movies, and since I'm never getting that time from my life back, I prefer to think Team DiCAprio on thi...
Wait, is this what it's come to? Why did you drink the Wells Kool Aid and have to pit (Pitt?) the movies against each other? What is happening here?
What are all these dogs doing here? Where's my daughter at?
Actually just one is Tomb Raider -- the others are Wanted and Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Wait until you see my next about about the loud and ethnic party animals who live above me!
Christopher you seem to be forgetting the main reason most movies stay atop the #1 spot on the box office: word of mouth.
If Inception is as good as the critics are saying it is people will let their friends and anyone who will listen how good it is. I'm not (and I don't think anyone is) expecting it to be the "greatest movie of all time" people are just expecting it to be better or just as good as The Dark Knight.
Salt looks like another Angelina Jolie action movie, there will be nothing new to see. I'm sure it will open in the #2 spot right on the heels of Inception, but people don't go to see movies just to see Jolie, if they wanted to do that they could just open up this week's tabloids. And wouldn't that mean that all of her previous films would've been #1 (or at least the Brangelina ones) which is not the case. You are also not taking into account what her competition was at the box office, and that most of her other #1 films were kids movies and those tend to do well at the box office.
Game set match.
This site just lost all its credibility. Salt bigger than Inception? Please. Not to say Salt won't be successful. It will be. But in no way will it gross more than Inception.
You forgot fat.
Also: please tell me once or twice a day about how you're trying to find a wi-fi spot to post. And please post two or three random pictures of beautiful 24 year-olds you've recently met.
Ok, allow me to shoot that $40m theory all to shit, along with some of your other planks of this debate:
1) TitanicTitanic and Avatar were a success because of their director, F/X and supporting cast? Remind me what the calling cards of Inception are again?
4) What determines a box-office winner in your book? The race to the first furlong, or the finish line?
5) Just because a movie is of shorter length, does not equate to squeezing in more showings in the same block of time. For example, the Cinemark near me has 11 viewings of Despicable Me, which has a 95 minute runtime. Twilight:Eclipse has also 11 viewings, and this film has a run length of 124 minutes.
Yes, Titanic opened in December -- though your better argument for the $40 million plateau is that it opened in December of 1998 and thus would have crossed $40 million with ease had it opened in the economics of 2010. I just made that point for you -- you're welcome.
There aren't any DiCaprio tentpole movies -- Inception is the first and it will open big. Probably anywhere between $50 and $70 million. Nowhere did I say that Inception wouldn't be a huge hit, however. I just said Salt will gross more over it's lifetime. In fact, I'll bet that Inception has a bigger opening weekend than Salt, but as you said -- the finish line is what matters here.
If you are really going to compare Avatar and Titanic to Inception, I have some news: You're wrong. Titanic and Avatar were sold as once in a lifetime event movies; Inception is being sold as...what? A heist movie, with a clock, and a lot of stars and, well, its stars aren't as big as Jolie.
Anyway, let's just get this finished: Put a number on Inception and Salt for me. I'll say: Salt $195 million domestic, Inception $165 million domestic.
Ok, allow me to say this one thing.
" Hmmm, Salt has Angelina Jolie in it It might be good."
I Think you are underestimating us. I bet you not that many people are interested in the movie Salt, Salt would do better IF it opened two weeks later.
As for me, I am saving my dinero for INCEPTION! I waited 8 months and damn straight i am going to watch it. haha
In addition to the "word of mouth" argument, I'd like to throw in a possible factor: people may need/want to see Inception more than once, whereas I think we'll all "get" Salt with one viewing.
(And I'd love to be able to edit my own comments as well, for the record.)
I'll wager you column space that the $165m on Inception is accurate, but Salt only pulls $140m.
How about just a pat on the back and maybe a shout out in the Commenter of the Week roundup? Would that be something you'd be interested in? Anyway, seems like we're not that far off. What's $50 million between friends?
Definitely. The little snippet they show of that in the preview is just one of the reasons I am opting to see it in IMAX right away instead of watching in standard format first and IMAX later.
Also, although I will probably see _Salt_ eventually, _Valhalla Rising_ is the movie I'll be in line to see on the 23rd!
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