Fearless Forecast: One More Win for 'Inception'

It will be another competitive weekend at the box office, this time with maybe $10 million separating the top three films. Inception looks to hold on to the top spot again, Salt hopes to not fall completely off the planet, and Dinner for Schmucks may play spoiler, but probably not. First: Inception. Christopher Nolan's dreamscape has been making good money in its second week, averaging about $5.7 million a day since Monday. That's good for a movie after its second weekend, particularly one that's not drenched in universal appeal. It has now officially made money by the budget/box office standard, but the more sophisticated accounting points to a while before it's really in the black. International business is healthy, and Inception will be closing in on $200 million in the US by the end of the weekend (probably Tuesday or Wednesday for that magic number, though). Dinner for Schmucks might get a pop of 10 - 15% more than I'm wagering, and if it does, it could beat Inception. Reviews are mixed but it probably won't mean much. Either people want a comedy this weekend or they don't. Thanks to Steve Carell and Paul Rudd, it's almost a guaranteed $20 - $23 million start, and I'll go a little bit higher. Salt was a strong second place finisher last weekend but unlike Inception, it really is more of an opening weekend draw. It's not so good that it'll get a ton of word-of-mouth business, nor is it so bad that it will plummet by an abnormal amount. But Sony would have probably taken this one at $70 million after two weeks if you'd made that offer earlier this year. There are two other films looking to populate the top five, Cats and Dogs and Charlie St. Cloud, but neither stands much of a chance of making a big impression this weekend or overall. The Top Five:
1 - Inception ($28.5 million)
2 - Dinner for Schmucks ($24 million)
3 - Salt ($19 million)
4 - Cats and Dogs ($17 million)
5 - Despicable Me ($15 million)

Comments

[W]

1. Inception - 30.1 million
2. Cats and Dogs 2 - 21.5 million
3. Dinner for Schmucks - 20.3 million
4. Salt - 17.1 million
5. Despicable Me - 12.2 million

[Jeremy H]

The original Cats & Dogs opened @ 21mil. I hate to admit it, but I actually enjoyed that movie (we all have our weak points, right?). With the recent influx of talking animal movies all doing pretty good business I wonder it the sequel might surprise everyone & do gangbusters.