In its first week of release, Christopher Nolan’s latest release “Inception” topped the box office last weekend with $62.8M. The Leonardo Dicaprio led film has thus far received extremely good reviews among fans and critics alike, garnering an 85 percent rating on rottentomatoes.com and Roger Ebert calling it “wholly original, cut from new cloth, and yet structured with action movie basics so it feels like it makes more sense than (quite possibly) it does.”
Coming in second was the animated feature “Despicable Me,” which grossed $32.8M over the weekend. With its total now at $118.4M, the Steve Carell voiced film has trounced its budget of $69M and looks to double that by this time next week.
Disney’s “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” came in third with an opening figure of $17.6M. The movie, which draws inspiration from the famous eight-minute sequence in Disney’s animated classic “Fantasia,” had hoped to do slightly better under the production of legendary producer Jerry Bruckheimer and acclaimed director Jon Turteltaub.
Bringing up the fourth and fifth spots were the mega successes of the summer “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” ($13.4M, $264.8M total) and “Toy Story 3” ($12M, 363M total).
This weekend should be interesting as Angelina Jolie comes in with her first film since 2008′s “Changling.” The academy award winning actress will have us feeling nostalgic toward her days as Lara Croft (with a touch of Jason Bourne added) when she sizzles the big screen Friday with “Salt.” As of this posting the film has received favorable reviews, with a 79 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
If you’re in the mood for a more light-hearted flick, Disney channel’s Selena Gomez stars along with newcomer Joey King in “Ramona and Beezus,” an adaptation of the popular children’s book series by Beverly Cleary.
So will the much-hyped “Salt” have enough star power to take the crown? Or will “Inception” keep its momentum and cruise along for the second straight week? The A-listers face off this Friday…
