Weekend Receipts: Inception Wakes Up At Number One
It was a dreamy weekend indeed for Inception as it ruled the box office with a fantastic haul of $60 million. But The Sorcerer's Apprentice had no magic at all, with a fizzled opening at third place. Your weekend receipts are here.
1. Inception
Gross: $60,400,000 (new)
Screens: 3,792 (PSA: $15,928)
Weeks: new
Kicking around in the comments, I see that some think there's an anti-Inception bias here at Movieline HQ. Let me dispel that scurrilous rumor by saying I think Inception was absolutely brilliant and probably one of the best movies of the year. We're allowed a rainbow of opinions here at Movieline. It's not like Stephanie Zacharek roams around the halls ominously swinging a cricket bat, looking to violently enforce a lockstep opinion. (But if you do decide to do this SZ, please remember that I makes my livings off my face, so I would kindly ask you to go solely for my junk)
2. Despicable Me
Gross: $32,734,000 ($118,365,000)
Screens: 3,501 (PSA: $9,350)
Weeks: 1 (change: -42.0%)
Another solid week for Universal Studio's sole hit. I wonder how quickly they'll retrofit The Simpsons' ride at the Universal theme park into a 3-D Despicable Me ride?
3. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Gross: $17,373,000 ($24,461,000)
Screens: 3,504 (PSA: $4,958)
Weeks: new
Between this and Prince of Persia, it has not been a very kind summer to Jerry Bruckheimer. I'm sure he's quite upset with these back-to-back flops and sadly only has his hundreds of millions upon millions of dollars to comfort himself with. That poor, inconsolable bastard.
4. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Gross: $13,500,000 ($264,900,000)
Screens: 4,001 (PSA: $3,374)
Weeks: 2 (-57.4%)
The last time I went home, I found my sister's old New Kids on the Block sleeping bag, which embarrassed her to no end. I wonder if, twenty or so years hence, women will be trying to hastily explain their collection of Team Jacob paraphernalia with the same hemming and hawing as my sister did for her collage of Joey McIntyre pin-ups?
5. Toy Story 3
Gross: $11,742,000 ($362,709,00)
Screens: 3,177 (PSA: $3,696)
Weeks: 4 (change: -44.1%)
A solid month after opening and Toy Story 3 is still in the top five. I would just caution Pixar to enjoy the universal acclaim while it can -- I have a feeling people won't be so rapturous over Planes
[Numbers via Box Office Mojo]
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Comments
I don't mean this as a snark, but when you say, "Let me dispel that scurrilous rumor by saying I think Inception was absolutely brilliant and probably one of the best movies of the year," as a believing listener you're kinda forced into thinking that for Inception to be absolutely brilliant and still only PROBABLY also one of the year's best, to you this has been a year chock-full of epic-brilliant movie-making. If I walked up to you in a crowded room and said to you were absolutely brilliant, probably one of the smartest people in the room, the room had better be filled with obvious "Einsteins" for this not -- en totale -- to seem much better than, "THE COMPANY OF THIS ROOM makes you seem beyond outstanding," which may or may not make you feel objectively superior, and probably has you thanking at first and then pausing -- "hey, wait a minute ...." If the room was actually full of the retarded-leaning average -- which is how many critics judge this (ostensibly) dumbest movie summer / year ever (!) (one they were hoping to be rescued by Inception) -- then you'd have to think I sashayed over to you PRETENDING a compliment but INTENDING a mock-down of an insult.
This is play, I know, and your enthusiasm (for the film) is obvious, of course: but "absolutely brilliant" you'd think would have put it as CLEARLY the year's best, probably ONE OF THE DECADE'S. If you genuinely think the year was so full of really great films that a clearly absolutely brilliant may still not count amongst its very best, it's a contrarian take, and I'd like to hear more about that. Myself, I saw three films that will stay with me a good long while (Please Give, Greenberg, Cyrus, [four?: Drunk History Tesla?] -- I also kinda liked Jonah Hex some [Stephanie is right, it was very pleasantly leisurely, if not very -- or much at all -- inventive), and I count it as a decent but necessary appetizer: I've liked the year more than others seem to have.
A Universal Despicable Me ride? Isn't that name already taken by Universal head Ron Meyer's car service?
I'm not surprised Inception did so well (IMAX adds a lot to these totals). This was an "adult action film" that had generated a lot of interest. A friend and I saw the IMAX trailer before Iron Man 2 and there were a lot of "oohs and ahhs" in the theatre. I was kind of surprised at Saturday night's screening as to how "into it" the audience was even late in the game cause there is a LOT of talking. I think this will be termed a dud, however, if it doesn't cross the $200 million mark domestically, but those are Batman numbers (multiple theatre viewings). I think it ought to hold most of its number next weekend (I plan to see it again in theatre for sure...I'm still not sure when I'll see Salt).
Patrick: Or, it's July, and we haven't seen the rest of the year's movies yet.
Fair enough that when I start seeing the 2011 calenders coming out, the oscar-important fall movie season can actually slip my mind a bit. Alright, here's to a season chock-full of good things, then!
"I wonder if, twenty or so years hence, women will be trying to hastily explain their collection of Team Jacob paraphernalia with the same hemming and hawing as my sister did for her collage of Joey McIntyre pin-ups?"
"What can I say? I was 12." Isn't going to work as an excuse for the 45 year old hausfraus who snuggle their life-size Robert Pattison pillow every night.
Looking into what was behind the Pakistani Cricket team no-ball apparent scandal bought it home to me just how huge the cricketing industry is, uniforms, bats, balls, clothing etc. Billions of pounds are involved here. Surely the players themselves (without whom none of this enterprise could happen) have to be far better renumerated than they seem to be so as to remove any temptation on their part to undo this huge industry by, against all the rules of fair play on the pitch, bolstering their relative pittance of a wage by illegally betting and so gaining a small extra crust for themselves. How about more fair play to the players from the word go? Pay them well in the first place and the game won't develop these problems.
I watched the movie yesterday and I really enjoyed it, it is really great. One of the best movies I have ever seen since Avatar.
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