Inception keeps its momentum

— In a business obsessed with opening weekends, the second weekend of Inception may be Hollywood’s biggest news of the summer.

The complex thriller from director Christopher Nolan sold a studio-estimated $42.7 million worth of tickets in the United States and Canada on its second weekend, off just 31 percent from its opening. That’s the smallest such decline for any movie this year and one of the best ever for a film that didn’t play its second weekend over a holiday.

A predicted tight race for the top of the box-office chart wasn’t, as the Angelina Jolie action movie Salt opened to a good but not great $36 million.

Helped by very strong weekday ticket sales, Inception has brought in $143 million in 10 days.

With moviegoers, particularly younger ones, spreading word that the movie is a must see and some coming back for repeat viewings, Inception is on track to gross more than $300 million domestically. It has a good shot at exceeding the $311 million grossed by Iron Man 2 to become the second most popular release of the summer, behind only Toy Story 3.

Warner and co-financier Legendary Pictures are positioned to make a hefty profit on the $160 million they spent to produce Inception, particularly given expectations that the film will perform even better internationally than it does domestically.

Its success positions Nolan, whose name and resume were cited more frequently in the movie’s $100 million plus marketing campaign than star Leonardo DiCaprio, as one of Hollywood’s most commercially successful directors of recent times.

Coming off his $1 billion-grossing 2008 success The Dark Knight, Inception is Nolan’s first movie not based on existing source material to become a hit.

Most summer action movies draw a younger male audience, but Salt did just the opposite, based on the appeal of Jolie and also largely positive reviews. According to exit polling, 53 percent of filmgoers were female, and 59 percent were older than 25. That’s potentially good news for the picture’s playability, since adults are more likely than teenagers to come to a movie after it premieres.

Even if it ends up with a little more than $100 million domestically, as seems likely, Salt still needs to do much better overseas. Columbia and financing partner Relativity Media spent about $130 million to make the movie, according to a person close to the production, though a studio spokesman said tax credits brought the cost down to less than $110 million.

Ramona and Beezus, the only other movie to open nationwide last weekend, failed to draw the family crowd it targeted. 20th Century Fox and Walden Media’s inexpensive adaptation of the children’s book series by Beverly Cleary opened to a weak $7.8 million.

In limited release, the Sundance Film Festival favorite The Kids Are All Right continues to play extremely well. Focus Features expanded the offbeat family drama, which stars Annette Bening, Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo, to 201 theaters from 38 and collected $2.6 million, or $12,909 per theater.

Today, Kids will expand substantially, to more than 500 theaters, as Focus tries to shepherd the indie drama into a mainstream hit.

BOX OFFICEThe top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Hollywood.com are: 1. Inception, Warner Bros., $42,725,012, 3,792 locations, $11,267 average, $142,883,424, two weeks.

2. Salt, Columbia, $36,011,243, 3,612 locations, $9,970 average, $36,011,243, one week.

3. Despicable Me, Universal, $23,689,060, 3,600 locations, $6,580 average, $161,289,905, three weeks.

4. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Disney, $9,651,495, 3,504 locations, $2,754 average, $42,609,020, two weeks.

5. Toy Story 3, Disney, $8,917,512, 2,766 locations, $3,224 average, $379,416,551, six weeks.

6. Ramona and Beezus, 20th Century Fox, $7,810,481, 2,719 locations, $2,873 average, $7,810,481, one week.

7. Grown Ups, Columbia, $7,428,742, 2,859 locations, $2,598 average, $142,240,828, five weeks.

8. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Summit, $7,186,170, 3,121 locations, $2,303 average, $279,827,262, four weeks.

9. The Last Airbender, Paramount, $4,217,021, 2,127 locations, $1,983 average,$123,308,790, four weeks.

10. Predators, 20th Century Fox, $3,120,656, 1,846 locations, $1,690 average, $46,839,081, three weeks.

11. The Kids Are All Right, Focus, $2,594,758, 201 locations, $12,909 average, $4,909,949, three weeks.

12. Knight and Day, 20th Century Fox, $1,694,003, 1,265 locations, $1,339 average, $72,675,724, five weeks.

13. The Karate Kid, Columbia, $1,100,315, 780 locations, $1,411 average, $171,713,173, seven weeks.

14. Cyrus, Fox Searchlight, $709,464, 454 locations, $1,563 average, $6,329,401, six weeks.

15. The Girl Who Played With Fire, Music Box, $563,790, 156 locations, $3,614 average, $2,944,891, three weeks.

16. Iron Man 2, Paramount, $438,975, 330 locations, $1,330 average, $310,840,824, 12 weeks.

17. I Am Love, Magnolia, $338,000, 166 locations, $2,036 average, $3,217,709, six weeks.

18. Winter’s Bone, Roadside Attractions, $322,661, 130 locations, $2,482 average, $3,556,647, seven weeks.

19. Hubble 3D, Warner Bros., $314,587, 53 locations, $5,936 average, $11,505,090, 19 weeks.

20. The A-Team, 20th Century Fox, $289,198, 296 locations, $977 average, $75,737,628, seven weeks.

MovieStyle, Pages 32 on 07/30/2010

Upcoming Events