Box Office Report: Inception begins at #1!

Given the mountain of hype surrounding Inception, you'd expect the film to open upwards of $70 million. However, given the fact that it's an original film with a complex premise, a 2 and a half hour running time, and presented in 2D instead of the money grabbing prices of 3D, I'm going to consider $60 million a success. It's Leonardo DiCaprio's biggest opening weekend, which begs the question of exactly how popular this actor is to audiences. Given the fact that both he and the rest of the cast and crew give effortlessly work to the film, and that it has been registering pretty positively with audiences, I can see the film holding up over the rest of it's run, and perhaps ending up with $250 million.

As for The Sorcerer's Apprentice, it took in $17 million this weekend. Big surprise, considering the negative reaction and the fact that it opened next to Christopher Nolan. Despicable Me held on to audiences with $32 million in its second weekend, adding to its total of 118 million. Twilight: Eclipse took in 13.5 million, and Toy Story 3 took in $11 million. Predators took a 71% drop to eighth. This weekend was down from the same last year when Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince debuted in #1.

Weekend Update: 3rd Week of July

As usual, nothing really extraordinary coming out this weekend. The Sorceror's Apprentice disappointed on its wednesday opening with $3.8 million, not boding well for its take this weekend, which will probably end around $15 million. I can't really see it standing a chance against Despicable Me's second weekend. I can't expect a huge drop, so we'll probably see it taking in about $37 million. I'll bet that Predators and Twilight: Eclipse will dip below Toy Story 3 this weekend, with those first two taking in about $12-14 million, while the latter rakes in a fantastic $17 million. I can only see this weekend being something of a disappointment.

On the other hand, there is this little personal peice by Christopher Nolan, the guy who made Memento and Insomnia. He's been known for making those intimate detective films, and his new film Inception seems to be keeping with that. The characters look interesting, and it looks like it may have a little bit of action to it. Reviews have been either praising it, or calling it confusing. It could be both, but that's not nescessarily a bad thing. Most people are predicting the film to take in some small bit of cash like $60 million, but I think it may be a bit of a surprise success, so I'm going to say it'll take in precisely $87,642,854‏. It's just a guess. We'll see how it works out.