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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Comments
*sigh*...Sorry about that but I don't give a d*mn about spelling Twilight (I'll keep my spelling)you knew what i meant so move on. As for your 'value' of my theatre expertise...again not needed. I backed up your comment...big deal...No. 7 I wasn't really posting against you some of what you say has merit. I was agreeing in part with Chris. Point is, both movies are excellent and offer two completely different movie experiences and sorry but Inception is not a movie for the general mass but SALT is. end of point. You can go on and reply to each and every post as you please but that just proves you have nothing else to do with your time. Not that your argument is anymore sound. Have a good day and enjoy the rest of your debate.
Inception will more than likely have something the Salt won't. An Oscar Nomination for best picture
You could totally be right! I can't wait for Inception, and I hope it will exceed expectations on many levels. But I don't equate cliche (not "clique" BTW) with heartwarming, and I guess I always feel safe underestimating the Blartastic American public (see: "Eclipse"). Deep down I'm rooting for you to be right about Inception!
Very true, and not always relevant when talking strictly about box office.
Looks like 'salt' will be the first movie for chris. Where on earth u were chris, may be lost on an island !
Wellcome back and enjoy ur 'salt'. Let people decide which one is best. 😡
Wow. Lots of interest. Both trailers look great, but I suspect Salt will have the better summer. Inception ain't Batman, it's more of a Memento with better special effects -- and I loved Memento -- I was one of the hundred people who went opening weekend. Salt has more teenboy street cred than Inception and that means a LOT in the summer. The Avatar commenters make a good point, but that had a virtually no-name cast (no offense Ms. Weaver) and I don't know even in spite of Dark Knight work that C Nolan is James Cameron. For me, I plan on being in an IMAX watching Inception this weekend. Salt, I'll see when I feel like it.
Also, the movie we WANT to win is often not the movie that DOES win the box office derby. Sad, I know.
Seeing how frightened Hollywood tends to be of backing fresh actresses Jolie winning an Oscar seemed to have more to do with her over exposure then talent.
I saw Inception last night. There is NO WAY IN HELL some damn Salt will be bigger than Inception. Salt was in script purgatory originally attached to Tom Cruise in the lead with Michael Mann/Peter Berg.
Rosen... your 'trending' is pretty skewed. Jolie hasn't been onscreen in two years, and one of those $40mill openers was a double bill with none other than Bradjolina themselves. I do believe that 'Salt' will be a successful film, but given high concept movies like 'The Matrix' I believe Inception will win the race. What movie will audiences still be talking about 5 years from now? How many times did the average Matrix fan return to the theaters to pump it's initial BO total?
Your comparing high concept vs star power... and in the end concept (Star Wars, Avatar, Matrix Series) always wins.
The world LOVES Jolie? I don't know a single person who would run out and see one of her movies just because she was 'the star'. From a terrific performance in 'The Changeling'... I can't ever wash from my brain the 'skunk' leftover from 'Taking Lives' or 'Life Or Something Like It'.
Just to add... 'The Matrix' released in March/April 99' had an opening weekend of just $27M, spent 25 weeks at the B.O. and went on to gross more than $463 worldwide... without inflation. Yes... moviegoers has inaccessible, high concept movies that require repeat viewings.
Can I have your job? 😉
It's baffling that people see the trailers for Salt and think anything other than Tomb Raider/Wanted style flashy action garbage. This movie will bomb.
Speaking as a film historian and sometime critic, I'm afraid I'm going to have to agree with Rosen's assessment---though there is one hitch. Admittedly, I can't stand Angelina Jolie, as I think she's more eye candy than material actress. Sure she has an Oscar but she played a crazy person....and how easy is it to play a crazy person on the screen. Leo, on the other hand, I think has become one of the greatest actors of our generation; however that's irrelevelant as the real star of INCEPTION is Christopher Nolan.
I say Rosen is right because of the general summer-movie mentality. Most summer ticket-buyers are looking for brainless escapism (i.e. garbage like TRANSFORMERS 2), and not cricially-lauded fare (i.e. WINTER'S BONE). To teenage boys, Jolie is not so much an actress as a fantasy figure. To me, SALT looks too much like WANTED 2, however the latter was R-rated while the former is PG-13....that's a pretty big deal when it comes to summer spectacle. On that notion, it will do better than INCEPTION opening weekend...with one little catch.
I've seen INCEPTION three times already. Like 2001 and VERTIGO, it demands repeat viewings to put all the puzzle pieces together, while also delivering action and visual effects which are light years ahead than anything in recent memory (yes, including the criminally overrated AVATAR, which relied entirely upon the 3D gimmick. The effects in INCEPTION are eye-popping in a realistic way; you actually buy what's going onscreen without thinking of them as effects. Plus, the labyrinthine plot has already gotten the world talking, and thus it will lead to repeat business.
Essentially it boils down to word-of-mouth (INCEPTION) vs. Angelina Jolie kicking ass. Sadly, because of the general mass mentality, Jolie will no doubt win opening weekend, which kind of disappoints me. Again, I may be in the minority when it comes to Jolie, but teenage boy's really don't give a rat's ass; they paid $10 to see Megan Fox and calling her an actress would be like calling a skateboard transporation. However, INCEPTION will win out in the end, not only in terms of box office but also Oscar nods and possibly even the home video market. It will be a film which will live on for years and years, while SALT will most likely be swept under the carpet by the end of 2010.
In any case, it will be intersting to see what happens; as it stands, INCEPTION is the film the whole world is talking about, so that will be a powerful push. I only wish it kicks AVATAR's ass off it's box office throne...but then again, I hope any film could do that. Chris 🙂
Anyone who believes that Inception will not beat Salt in total box office is delusional and has been for some time.
Inception blew the doors off its first weekend and has had outstanding midweek numbers. Salt will be extremely frontloaded and will fade very quickly.
I'll be back on this saved page in a few weeks to laugh heartily at this unbelievable prediction
I think Inception will beat Salt next weekend. Seriously I know plenty of people who have not seen it and want to see it. My prediction for the July 23rd weekend is Inception 27-32 million, Salt 23-25 Million, then Despicable ME 19-21 Million. Inception made 62.8 Million Opening Week end, it will have legs
I've seen Inception twice already, once on IMAX once on cine capri, and it is one of the best movies ive seen in recent memory.. from story, script, acting, visuals, sound/music, direction - EVERYTHING was spot on.
I dont even have the slightest urge to see Salt in theatres.. it seems like your run of the mill spy movie with angelina jolie thrown in.. I mean they practically give away the ENTIRE plot in the previews.. This article is honestly laughable and whoever wrote it should be fired. Granted the run time is the only decent point, and the fact that salt is opening the week after inception.. Leo is probably the hottest actor in hollywood right now, that combined with the pretty much only positive word of mouth.. salt doesnt stand a chance.
LOL. The 2nd weekend for Inception looks like to be bigger than Salt's first.
LOL is right! Awesome prediction there, Christopher Rosen. Man, you must feel like an idiot now.
sick of jolie.
salt isn't going to beat inception in the box office i will tell you that right now. i am willing to bet it won't beat it come this weekend. inception made another 30 MILLION in a 3-day course and it was just during the WEEKDAY!! monday, tuesday, and wednesday! it's being predicted to pull another 40 million for the weekend! the word of mouth has been incredible along with the desire for repeat viewings because people want to see it again to either be thrilled or find clues to the ambiguity of the film. jolie is a big name star in a run in the mill summer flick. look, if tom cruise, who is or WAS one of the biggest hollywood names flopped miserably with knight & day, what makes you think salt would do much better? whenever something new and refreshing and exciting comes along, people will flock to it, they will tell their friends about it, they will see it over and over. it's the reason why spielberg in his prime was such a blockbuster monster success, nobody was making the kind of summer flicks that he was doing. they were fresh, different and exciting. nolan is in that same wave-length right now. traditional summer action flicks aren't going to trump inception.
Well said, gluvnast. Inception's success is the public's retaliation for a terrible summer movie season. We want originality and we'll back it with our wallets. Congrats to Nolan and crew.
Haha haha haha! That was the hearty laugh I promised. Christopher Rosen, do you know anything about movies. Apparently not. Here's something to chew on: inception's second Friday was larger than Salt's opening! Better than that - first weekends typically carry a 2.9 multiplier off the Friday numbers. Second weekends and after tend to have 3.5 multipliers. Inception is going to handily beat Salt the rest of the weekend. I'm sitting in my second showing - brought friends. It's called word of mouth, genius!
I haven't seen SALT yet, but I saw the shooting of part of it.
I did see INCEPTION in front row IMAX.
I'm not going to disagree with all of your points, but I do believe that INCEPTION's complexity and its cinematic beauty, matched with the many other pieces of the film which are just perfect, will give SALT a run for it's money. I believe SALT Will be good. But I believe INCEPTION is a better film. The ending is too incredibly awesome.
Just my opinion.
Inception will probably come out on top. I just hope it'll got something at the Academy Awards and not get robbed like Dark Knight was. (thats jut my opinion)
"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."
Ready to revise your numbers now? Salt has little chance of doing anything other than creaking past $100 million. I don't know what next week will bring, but it looks as if Inception will easily blow past $165 million.
Sure -- Inception at $230, Salt at $110. And to the other commenters here, I apologize for being the first person in history to make a reasonable prediction and have it be wrong. How dare I, right guys?
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