As it turns out, the fourth time wasn't the charm for Inception. Christopher Nolan's Scrooge McDuck-inspired blockbuster was knocked out of the top spot at the box office this weekend by Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg and a cadre of Prius jokes. Click ahead for the full assortment of weekend receipts.
1. The Other Guys
Gross: $35,600,000 (new)
Screens: 3,651 (PSA: $9.751)
Weeks: 1
Put Will Ferrell in the right project -- and not Land of the Lost -- and you've got a consistent box office presence on par with Adam Sandler. If you consider Talladega Nights the massively successful outlier in the Will Ferrell-Adam McKay partnership, The Other Guys opened in the same ballpark as Anchorman and Step Brothers. It also opened to slightly higher returns than the McKay-less Blades of Glory did in the spring of 2008. So, win. Although if someone can explain to me the point of The Other Guys' incredibly irony free credit sequence that tells the audience what a Ponzi scheme is, I'd be very appreciative.
2. Inception
Gross: $18,600,000 ($227,732,000)
Screens: 3,418 (PSA: $5,442)
Weeks: 4 (change: -32.2%)
With such minimal weekend-to-weekend deprecations, it's beginning to feel like Inception could be one of those movies that reaches the pole position again during the tumbleweed portion of the summer calendar. Don't be shocked to see Nolan's blockbuster leading the pack over Labor Day.
3. Step Up 3D
Gross: $15,500,000 (new)
Screens: 2,435 (PSA: $6,366)
Weeks: 1
The fun-time nature of Step Up 3D aside, the grosses for this sequel are quite underwhelming. The film's opening weekend was lower than both Step Up and Step Up 2: The Streets, despite the added premium of 3D ticket prices. No worries though: it just means that when you see it next weekend, you'll have more room to dance around the theater.
4. Salt
Gross: $11,100,000 ($91,980,000)
Screens: 3,317 (PSA: $3,346)
Weeks: 3 (change: -43%)
Hey, would you look at that: Quietly, Angelina Jolie is pushing Salt toward $100 million in ticket sales. Down a respectable 43 percent, the Phillip Noyce-directed film could wind up with north of $110 million in domestic grosses, just as long as the action crowd doesn't totally abandon it for The Expendables next weekend.
5. Dinner for Schmucks
Gross: $10,500,000 ($46,746,000)
Screens: 3,004 (PSA: $3,495)
Weeks: 2 (change: -55.4%)
Faced with an allegedly funnier comedy in The Other Guys, Dinner for Schmucks took a nosedive in weekend two and will be lucky to top $75 million. Quality aside, it makes you wonder: If Paramount had kept Schmucks' original July 23 release date, how much more could the film have grossed as the only comedy in the marketplace for two full weeks?
[Numbers via Box Office Mojo]