Image Credit: Andrew SchwartzYay moviegoers! You are rewarding the best-reviewed movies of the summer with your pocketbooks. While Angelina Jolie earned an estimated $36.5 million of your money this weekend for her taut actioner Salt, Inception was also a huge recipient of your cash falling only 31 percent its second weekend in theaters. In fact the $43.5 million the movie earned put its total at $143.6 million for its first ten days in theaters. (In IMAX alone the film grossed $4.8 million.) Despicable Me also benefited from your discerning tastes, falling only 26 percent its third weekend in theaters for a total box office take of $161 million.
Unfortunately Ramona and Beezus did not connect with audiences. The weekend’s other new wide release generated only $8 million and landed in sixth place for its opening frame. Those who did see the movie liked it, with audiences giving the film an A- according to CinemaScore but it wasn’t enough of a crowd to push the grosses past $10 million. That’s in contrast to the B+ that Salt earned from moviegoers. Directed by Philip Noyce, the action-thriller scored equally well with men and women, though women made up a larger component of the audience with 59 percent of the audience over 25. Of course Jolie was the primary draw to the film. With Ramona, which starred newcomer Joey King and tween pop star Selena Gomez, the G-rated flick was received best by young girls and their grandmothers.
Spot four and five for the weekend went to Disney movies. Despite a weak beginning, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice held in fairly well its second weekend in theaters, losing 45 percent of its value. Grossing another $9.7 million, the PG-rated actioner has grossed $42.6 million. Toy Story 3 also earned another $9 million its sixth weekend in theaters. The monster hit of the summer lost only 25 percent of its value putting its total gross at an impressive $379 million.
Grown Ups took the seventh slot. The Adam Sandler-starrer also held up remarkably well, losing only 23 percent of its value in its fifth weekend in theaters. With an additional $7.6 million, the film’s total stands at $142 million. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is still in the top ten. The PG-13 rated romance lost 48 percent of its value its fourth weekend in release, for an additional $7 million and a total cume of close to $280 million. M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender grabbed the ninth slot while Predators took spot ten. Airbender earned an additional $4 milion putting its total gross at $123 million while Predators fell an additional 59 percent for another $2.8 million and has only grossed $46.5 million after three weekend in release.
The strong performances of the top three releases helped propel the box office to 8 percent above last year at this time when G-Force, The Ugly Truth and Orphan opened.
In limited release, The Kids Are All Right continues to do great business. The Julianne Moore, Annette Bening-starrer grossed $2.6 million in only 201 theaters. It’s per theater average of $13,000 has propelled its two-week limited gross to close to $5 million.
Just saw Inception last night. My head has never hurt in such a good way before in my life. Truly an awesome film.
All of this means nothing now to the movie going public since Amanda Bynes has come out of retirement.
SHE HAS??!? STOP THE PRESSES! lol
@Dee lol
Whaattttt??? Inception still #1? This movie keeps fooling everybody. Boring movie. Don’t waste your money.
you’re an idiot.
agreed, he is an idiot, I’ll add dumb a@@ with a touch of moron.
Maybe he saw BRAINSTORM and realized it was just a rip off of it. If you hadn’t seen the original version then it would be more interesting…how does the saying go for those that didn’t even know this ripped off Brainstorm? Oh yes, it pays to be ignorant.
oh, blah, Brainstorm ain’t got nothing on this. I had that on in the background the last time it aired on TV. It doesn’t compare to the level of craft and depth of storytelling in Inception.
Really, Hey F*cker? Brainstorm?
That was a piece of crap movie with a premise only tangentially related to Inception. And even that was a stretch for me to right.
I don’t know if you’re willfully ignorant, or just found another movie you thought might compare, but you were wrong. Way. To. Go.
Brainstorm sucked.
Yeah, that must be it. The movie FOOLING everyone. Because heaven help us all if there are actually people out there whose taste in movies differ from yours.
Brad,
It all comes down to taste. “Inception” might have bored you but others found it compelling and entertaining.All that means is that it wasn’t a film made for you.
Thanks, Wayne. It’s nice to see someone give a thoughtful, kind response for a change rather than an attack on the poster.
Don’t spell so good?
I notice you don’t spell so good either, stick to kid’s films in future
idiot!
Very good movie.
Inception sucked! Wished I had seen SALT instead. Next time men listen to the gf or wifey.
yeah ok wussy.
Brad, I dont think its that good either. Nice to look at but too try hardish and faux deep
Toy Story 3 is the best reviewed movie of the summer not Inception.
The article says the “best reviewed movies,” plural.
Toy Story 3 > Inception. easily.
It’s great to see Inception drop only 31 percent, but in what world is Salt, with its 56% Rotten Tomatoes score, one of the best reviewed movies of the summer?
Ebert gave it a good score, as did a handful of other “top critics”.
Ebert has a thing for hot women – I’ve seen him give questionable reviews more than once to Angelina, Halle and other Hollywood beauties.
Ebert is senile.
He likes good action movies. Not noisy, choppy ones. And hot women. What’s wrong with hot women?
Ebert is in love with Angelina. He gave Tomb Raider 2 a good review and Roeper teased him about him being in love with Angelina then too. He’s kind of a pig when it comes to reviewing actresses. Notice his review on Salt focuses on her looks.
Salt only has 9 points less than Inception on Metacritic.
Saw Salt because I was bored on Friday afternoon, and was very pleasantly surprised. They did a good job putting together trailers that didn’t give away the plot, and part way through there was something that totally derailed my expectations — it took a while to figure out what direction it was actually going in. Those moments of WTF uncertainty made it definitely worth the admission (although thanks to a small issue with the print, we got free passes on the way out, so woooo!) Anyway, definitely an enjoyable popcorn flick, while certainly not a future classic.
Agreed, it was a thrilling movie. I don’t understand where a lot of the hate is coming from. Most of it is centered on the fact that it’s “unrealistic,” “unbelievable,” and has “plot holes.” Wait, since when did an action movie need to be realistic and have a solid plot? Are you saying James Bond, Mission Impossible, and the Bourne movies are realistic in any way?! It’s ridiculous. Maybe it’s because this one stars a woman so they find it a bit less believable, and if that is the case, it’s sad. But maybe that has nothing to do with it. I don’t know. All I know is that I thought it was AWESOME and I will definitely buy it when it comes out. Loved it and love Angelina.
36.5 million is an great opening weekend number for angelina. not the #1 movie but she hung in tough with inception and beat the OW grosses of some of the biggest male stars in the business tom cruise, russell crowe, bradley cooper, jake gyllenhaal and not to mention the ladies from sex in the city.
leonardo dicaprio is the best actor of this generation along side Depp. They have a good test on movies. Also they are silent actors, they don’t need tabloid cover promotion. Angie has sold her self out long time ago. Now, she is just tabliod freaks, predictable movies and self promotion. Check people Magazine cove this week. If you want to see Salt, here is your surprise.
“leonardo dicaprio is the best actor of this generation”
LOL, no. He does have an excellent sense, however, of picking “prestige” movies that also have box office appeal. But he plays variations of the same character in each of his roles.
“But he plays variations of the same character in each of his roles.”
you can say that about any actor or actress. not a good critique.
I’d personally go with Ryan Gosling. Does Ed Norton count or is he an older generation? Also Cillian Murphy, his Inception co-star… who doesn’t do near enough movies for my taste.
@CPK: Well, actually it is, because it means that he doesn’t have a lot of range. Which is true.
ew gave a list of the top over rated actor. leo was in the top ten. i like him. his movies sense titanic don’t do to well. inception was his highest opening ever.
You know, Leo is great actor, and I would agree he is one of the best actors of his generation. but Ed Norton. He is an arrogant prick. Just listen to the commentary track on fight club with Fincher and Pitt. He pretty much talks through the whole thing, almost never letting the other two speak. He also isn’t that great of an actor.
leonardo dicaprio is the best actor of this generation along side Depp. They have a good test on movies. Also they are silent actors, they don’t need tabloid cover promotion. Angie has sold her self out long time ago. Now, she is just tabliod freaks, predictable movies and self promotion. Check people Magazine cove this week. If you want to see Salt, here is your surprise. May be she should a duet with Aniston, I will shure people will flunk to see that.lol
What language are you writing in?
I think the best movie of all-time is Transformers and the greatest direct of all -time is Michael Bay. Everyone else are just wannabes Michael Bay. Who cares about this Inception movie. I saw the trailer and i said to myself ‘this is one dumb looking movie’. This is a movie for all the people who wants to be feel ‘acceptable among their peers’. Look at this board on EW. All the people on here are lame. Stand up and think for yourself like me….I say forget all yall….this movie Inception sux
Calling “Transformers” the best movie of all time shows the depth of your critical skills.
LOL
Are you twelve, bob?
bob = troll.
Cool story, though.
ugh whyd you ruin it
I mean just read everyones comment ..its all of yall are trying to kiss up to one another saying stuff like ‘on man this movie made me think and i love that b/c im a thinker’. Well i got news for you.there are those that just want to sit in the movie theatre and watch stuf blows up for no reason whatsoever. Its called ‘Entertainment’ people. If i wanted to think i would stay in school and watch all the films my teacher made me watch. All yall are lame dang.
Or maybe you’re just an idiot, bob.
Why are you complaining? There are plenty of dumb movies out there for your tiny brain, Bob.
It’s not like there is a shortage out there…..Eclipse, Last Airbender, Grown Ups, Sex and the City 2, A-Team….the list goes on
Eclipse being the least of those 5 evils, of course.
I shouldnt feed the troll either, but Bob, you remind me of my ex wife. Comments that aren’t pertinent to anything. Uneducated, not thought through, childish responses…. wait…. YOU ARE MY EX WIFE! … inception was fantastic. Go watch icarly.
I think bob is just being sarcastic, guys..
I honestly don’t know if you’re serious or not, Bob. I really hope not.
well you seem to be in the VAST minority, and that may even be an understatement. Its almost impossible for me to believe you are serious, because what you said it so stupid. even if it is a joke its insulting.
I can’t stand Nicole Sperling, get someone else to write these articles. She is so condescending..”yay America”….thanks Nicole for your sanctimonious commentary. Sometimes we Americans like intellectual movies, sometimes we like just good summer action stuff. Get off your high horse and stop being so obnoxious and blatant about what you think are good movies and mocking people who like others. And for a movie with a purported budget of 130 million, I dont think 36.5 is that great an opening for Salt
Very on point. EW really fancies itself as a tastemaker, but it often comes across as condescending. And it often feels like commenteres like to come here to be reassured that the movie/TV show they just watched, got invested in and that left them bewildered, is actually brilliant and not really an emperor wearing non-existent new clothes (see the preposterous coverage of “Lost”). The “Yay moviegoers” comment made me want to puke.
I find it humorous that EW does fancy itself a tastemaker, and then and goes the Twilight movies a B+. Not reliable at all.
Nice job accusing someone of being condescending and then being a total snide snob yourself, Dee. That’s a pretty snotty view of the motivations of “commenteres” you’ve got there.
ONEIL ONNEIL ONEIL you do not put radley cooper, jake gyllenhaal in the same line as sir Tom Cruise ok? Tom movies made over billion…Jake and Bradley…and who are these people? LOL
Bob, what article are you reading? None of those actors are even mentioned in here. In fact, none of those actors are even in the movies mentioned in here.
Don’t bother Emma. Don’t feed the Troll.
Bob was referring to another poster “Oneil.” And his point is fair. Tom Cruise in his glory days was on a par with Will Smith and Tom Hanks… Jake and Bradley, not so much.
So Bob, just stay in school then. When you graduate, you will understant Inception. Till then, stick on Transformers, Transformers may be you will transform yourself after that.
I’m just happy Inception beat Salt and Toy Story 3 beat Eclipse. It looks like the small percentage of intelligent people decided to come out in force, recently.
And look at the difference in movies from last year: The Ugly Truth, G-Force and Orphan. YIKES! I forgot that District 9 didn’t come out until August.
(Nice try to all the trolls on here. You guys must be starving from not being fed!)
“Salt” is one of the better action films that’s been out in a while. It’s not as good as Inception, but it deserves to do well.
agreed. Salt is a very, VERY good film. Not intellectually stimulating, but thrilling in every sense of the word. Angelina makes what would have been an okay movie phenomenal.
I also have to strongly agree with you. Saw Salt this weekend with my mom, I love Angelina Jolie and see most of her movies in the theater (whether they are the action ones or the drama ones like Changeling) but I was kind of like meh this looks like it’s maybe not so good. But wow, it was a really good action movie! Definitely happy I saw it in the theater and I think if you are someone who likes a good action movie, you will like this too. And Angelina *was* amazing, definitely carried the movie and is what makes it as good as it is. Very entertaining … even with the Korean translator sitting right behind us translating the ENTIRE movie to her elderly Korean parents the WHOLE time. Seriously lady?? lol Too bad the theater was too packed for us to move to another seat.
In what universe is a Twilight movie the least best of a box office top 10?
Because it certainly isn’t this universe.
Jake and Bradley are two worst breakout actors right now. I mean come on, I am no hater but is this the best hollywood can offer? Give us Joseph Gordan-levitt now.
Who are Jake and Bradley? Just saw Inception and agree with you. Gordan-Levitt deserves more roles
Jake was never known for being a huge action star. Disney found that out the hard way.
Are you kidding? Have you forgotten about Taylor Lautner and Megan Fox? Gyllenhaal and Cooper are talented, but obviously not the best.
You’re obviously twitard and a Robstein fan. Rob ain’t that great either idiot
@bob: I didn’t say Pattinson was great, either! And yes, I enjoy Twilight, but even I don’t embrace it as a masterpiece nor trash it for any reason.
@m1- You didn’t have to seing that most TL haters are Rob lovers…..or so they wish