A $60.4 million reception for "inception"; 'Despicable Me' crosses $100 million (HWD)

By Paul Dergarabedian & Wiretap staff

The mysterious and much-anticipated "Inception" from Warner Bros. topped the weekend box-office chart as expected while Universal's "Despicable Me" crossed the $100 million mark with a strong second weekend.

Christopher Nolan is a film director whose name is synonymous with smart, beautifully crafted films and big box-office. Nolan's "The Dark Knight," which opened exactly two years ago, posted the biggest opening weekend of all-time with $158.4 million in its first three days of release; a record that has yet to be broken and the film was also the top grossing film of 2008.

With $60.4 million this weekend, "Inception" gave star Leonardo DiCaprio his biggest debut ever, out-grossing the mid-February opening of "Shutter Island."

The Imax screenings of "Inception" accounted for 12% of the weekend gross with $7 million in 197 locations: the best ever for an IMAX 2D title. The fact that Nolan is a true believer when it comes to the cinematic and creative advantages of the giant screen technology is not at all lost on the audience for this film.

At number two was Universal's "Despicable Me" which crossed the $100 million mark in just nine days of release. The film was solid performer all week long and earned a strong $32.7 million this weekend against a minimal 42% drop.

Debuting in the third spot was Disney's "The Sorcerer's Apprentice." The film opened last Wednesday with $3.9 million. It took $17.4 million for the weekend and $26.4 million since Wednesday.

Number four belongs to "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse." Another $13.5 million in the blood bank puts it in excess of a quarter billion dollars in domestic revenue.

Disney's "Toy Story 3" became the highest grossing film of the year and the summer with a $362.7 million total.

On the indie front, Fox Searchlight's "Cyrus" came in at number 11 with $1.075 million and "The Kids Are All Right" from Focus Features landed at number 12 with $1.027 million.

With year-to-date revenues crossing the $6 billion mark and summer revenues holding their own against last year, we now head into the final six weeks of the summer with some much-needed vigor. Next week look for Sony's action entry starring "Salt" starring Angelina Jolie and Fox's "Ramona and Beezus" based on the best-selling children's books.