Image Credit: Merie Weismiller WallaceDinner for Schmucks opened Friday night in the $8 million range, giving Inception, the number one film for the past two weekends, a real race for the top spot. The other two wide releases didn’t perform as well, though a $6 million Friday for Zac Efron’s Charlie St. Cloud will likely give the teen weepie a $15 million bow for the weekend. In contrast, the weak Friday of around $4 million for Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore could mean the live-action CG-fest may only gross $13 million for the weekend, far lower than the $20 million predicted. That may change if families come out strong today, but original estimates aren’t predicting much of a jump for the PG-rated movie.
Holdovers dominated much of the business on Friday. Inception grossed another $8 million for a weekend that could hit anywhere between $24 and $27 million. Salt took in close to $6 million on Friday for a weekend that could translate into $19 million, and perhaps a third place finish. Despicable Me continues to astound. Not only did its Friday take of close to $5 million out-gross the new release of Cats and Dogs, but if it holds as predicted, the three-day take would mark only a 36 percent drop off in its fourth weekend in release. Come back tomorrow for more official results.
“. In contrast, the weak Friday of around $4 million for Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore could mean the live-action CG-fest may only gross $13 million for the weekend, far lower then the $20 million predicted.”
Wrong use of the word ‘than.’
Damn! ‘Inception’ got beaten by ‘Dinner For Shmucks’. I guess people got tired of ‘Inception’. Its good, but HIGHLY overrated.
your mom’s bedroom prowess is HIGHLY overrated.
Not to mention it’s already been out for 3 weeks
how does it feel to be so dumb?
Don’t feed the trolls.
David’s right, Inception’s good but not worth some of the praise it’s been getting. It’s not Nolan’s masterpiece, it’s not even his 3rd best movie!
I loved Dinner for Schmucks! Steve and Paul were amazing. They are the two actors that are never boring. The movie was extremely hilarious. Steve was very sweet in the movie and he played his character great. Very delightful and heartfelt comedy. I’m so happy that Steve left his tv show, because not he can be in more movies. Steve Carell = my #1 favorite comedy actor. You rock Steve!!!!
Agreed!
SOOOOOO overrated, agreed.
Please don’t make Inception #1 pleaseeeeeeeeee… not again…
Don’t be that guy.
.
sequel : Dinner for Schmucks 2 :
this time the schmuck guests are :
Mel Gibson
Lindsey Lohan
President of BP
George Bush Jr
the cast of Jersey Shore
Kate Gosselin
Keith Olberlmann
Robert Pattison
A-Rod
Chelsea Clinton’s husband
…
Robert Pattinson! LOL
LOL-Good idea! They should put an actress to impersonate Paula Abdul!!!! Remember her as a judge on American Idol? She was crazy. And even on this years American Idol finale show, when she wished Simon a farewell-yikes-she was still crazy. Gotta love her though!
LOL! what’s wrong with Chelsea Clinton’s husband?!
Keith Oberman over Glen Beck or Bill O’ Reilly? hmmm
I would go with Glen Beck, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, Michele Bachmann or Sarah Palin before any liberal commentator is thrown in there as they are way more crazy than any liberal out there.
Don’t forget Sarah Palin.
I wish I could.
You left out Joe Biden & Nobama’s whole family.
you forgot Obama
uh…no he didn’t!
There is no George Bush Jr. There is a George H. W. Bush and a George W. Bush. Nice try, though.
Dubbya is also known as mini me when his dad is around.
Actually, it’s Dubya. With one b.
Perfect list only add the rest of the cast of twilight, Sarah Palin, Elizabeth Hasselback, the Kardashians, the cast of The Hills, Justin Bieber, and Michael Lohan.
Thanks, Liz. Your choices complete the perfect list! Now, what to serve this list of gasbags? Hopefully, something full of sodium, carbohydrates, etc.
Everybody is so jealous of robert pattinson because he is the sexiest man alive!!!
I’m so glad Cats and Dogs 2 is flopping. It’s a shame to see what passes for children’s entertainment today. Pixar is the only studio to make intelligent children’s films. It’s terrible to see that child-friendly films such as Fantastic Mr. Fox and Where the Wild Things Are make less than $100 million domestically, but crap like the two Alvin and the Chipmunks movies make over $200 million domestically. Really goes to show the low standards and low sense of quality that many young moviegoers have today.
I agree and disagree. It’s a shame that so many wonderful films, like the ones you mentioned, don’t get the same commercial success as movies like Alvin and the Chipmunks, but I think that the issue goes beyond “kids being dumb”. Children don’t have the same emotional depth that allows us to see greatness in these films. They like to see the sensory array of colors, sounds, and sometimes it’s the louder and more annoying ones that appeal. It’s a shame, but it’s not because of the downfall of children.
Exactly, but maybe if the parents took their children to the more intelligent children movies, they would grow up smarter. Maybe?
Maybe if the parents shut down the TV, Game station and computer and handed the kids a book we wouldn’t be raising a generation of hyper young people who can’t stand not being attached to something electronic.
Kids do not want to watch movies that their parents watch. Was the crap we watched as kids any better than the crap they have out today? No, not really. The problem with movies like Fox and wild things is that they tend to be geared to a more adult audience. They are kids movies for adults and kids don’t want to watch those movies. That’s why Chipmunks, and other crap like it, do so well. They are made for kids and kids only. In time they will grow out of those types of movies so why not just let them enjoy them now, while they can. You go see the movies made for you and the kids can go see the movies made for them.
Kids are actually smarter than you think. But kids don’t go movies by themselves…
Oh and don’t blame the kids – they’re parents pay for the tickets. Some parents need to learn to say no when their kids want garbage.
Too true.
You know, if there was anyone on the planet who remembered the first ‘Cats and Dogs’ film, the sequel might be doing better. I saw the first one, remember nothing about it, and have zero interest in the sequel. Is it any wonder that today’s kids, who probably weren’t even alive for the first one, don’t want to watch it?
I remember the first one. My 5yo watches it quite a bit (TG for VHS!), but… I enjoy most kids’ movies. HOWEVER, I sat through and ENDURED the sequel on Friday night. The first one was MUCH better. The sequel just made me think of “Grandma Wrinkles” from the Real Housewives of New Jersey and creeped me out for over an hour. Ick! Plus, since technology has become so much greater since the first was produced, I expected greater things. Uh… I was highly disappointed. So much of it really did look rather fake.
Dinner for Shmucks doesn’t deserve to be #1.
Yes it does!!!! I had a very fun friday night because of this movie. There was no stress or worry for me. It was a very relaxed and easy-going friday night. Thanks to this movie!!
I thought “Dinner for Schmucks” was another article about Chelsea Clinton’s wedding!!
Glenn Beck, you’re effin’ hilarious!
Saying ‘highly overrated’ is highly overrated. Just like the word ‘basically.
Well, that’s basically true.
I completely agree. I believe that Inception is only mediumly overrated, and possibly lowly overrated.
That was a deeply shallow remark.
Not even one film crossed $30 mil this weekend.
Since the weekend isn’t over yet, this comment is a bit premature.
Yup. But don’t you know, Hollywood only counts the weeks where they do well. It long ago became evident that they don’t really care, they’d prefer to continue making crap, make less money overall and then stand on the few weekends when they did make money. You’re dead right. The thought that the July 30th-August 1st weekend would not have a single film grossing over $30 mil would have been unthinkable even a year ago. Now they clearly don’t care. Most of the major studios admitted this summer was for crap when they released that absurd statement back in May essentially saying wait for next summer when we release all of our really good movies. They’re going to make less money overall this summer, their shareholders don’t care, and they’re going to shut any one who mentions it up by pointing out how much money they made on one or two random weekends and how Karate Kid over performed. That’s all there is.
A Friday tie between Schmucks and Inception is basically a guarantee that Inception will squeak out the overall weekend win.
Finally saw Inception. Why did I wait? Except for an empty seat next to me.
Incetion FTW!!!
It’s amazing how many ignorant people will flock to pure crap like dinner for shmucks. Is this what passes for comedy these days? How pathetic…
Did you SEE the film? It’s brilliantly acted, has pretty decent writing, and manages to balance painful awkwardness with rousing silliness and a bit of genuine heart.
All in all, exactly what one wants and expects out of a big screen comedy.
love SALT
If both Salt (‘close to’) and Charlie St. Cloud made $6 Million, how does one predict that Salt comes away with $19M and Charlie $15M for the whole weekend? I know they are just estimates, but just curious why a difference in final #s. (bad word of mouth? the type of movie?)
because more people watch on Saturdays and Salt is showing in about 1000 more theaters than Charlie St Cloud, plus they’re probably assuming that Salt has more legs than CS
New releases and holdovers behave differently as the weekend progresses. New movies tend to have stronger opening days and then decline as the weekend progressives, while holdovers generally remain steady over the weekend, in most cases with a Saturday bump. So while Charlie probably peaked on Friday (its opening day), Salt will probably be the steadier of the two over the three-day period. It’s also playing in more theaters.
I waited to see Inception because I hate being in crowded theaters. Loved it, I thought it deserved all the buzz and attention it got. After I saw it, I wanted to watch it all over again and not because I was confused but because everything about it was great imo. Nice to see a movie that gets a lot of recognition and delivers unlike junk such as Avatar.
OMG thank you! Avatar was a vehicle to showcase technology with a trite, predictable plot. It infuriates me that Avatar is what passes for ‘brilliant’ movie-making today. Meanwhile, Nolan built an actual set in Canada for the snow fortress, and did not use CGI to levitate the actors in the anti-gravity fight in the hotel hallway… And it shows all the way. If inception is not nominated for an Oscar this year (given that Avatar was), I’m giving up on the Academy for good.