'Schmucks' dream big but 'Inception' wins weekend (HWD)

By Paul Dergarabedian

Warner Bros.' "Inception" has been the number one film for each day since its release except for Friday (when "Dinner for Schmucks" debuted at number one) and even in its third weekend of release presented a formidable road block to the newcomers.

With $27.52 million "Inception" took the top of the chart with another small 36% drop. The film has earned $193.3 million in just seventeen days of release and will soon cross the $200 million mark in domestic revenue. Last weekend's tiny 32% drop and great continued mid-week strength gave "Inception" strong momentum for this incredible third weekend

The comedy pairing of Steve Carell and Paul Rudd in Paramount's "Dinner for Schmucks" took the second spot at the box office this weekend with $23.3 million. These two also appeared in 2004's "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" which opened with a $28.4 million. Carell's average wide release opening gross is around $27 million while Rudd's is $20 million and so a comedy debut in the low-twenties was not a surprise.

At number three, Sony's "Salt" has also been generating terrific mid-week grosses and enjoying solid word-of-mouth and critical reviews since its debut last weekend and therefore posted a strong sophomore session of $19.25 million. It now has a cumulative total of $70.8 million.

Universal's "Despicable Me" has also showed no signs of slowing down and is still a cornerstone of the top five even after 24 days in release with another $15.5 million against a mere 34% drop and a whopping $190.3 million in domestic box office.

For kids and families, the 3-D sequel "Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore" from Warner Bros. came in at number five with $12.5 million. The original "Cat & Dogs" back in 2001 debuted with a $21.7 million first weekend, but pretty stiff competition out there for the family audience gave the film a fifth place debut.

On the dramatic side of things with a debut outside of the top five with $12.1 million is Zac Efron and Kim Basinger in "Charlie St. Cloud." Director Burr Steers also directed Efron in 2009's "17 Again," which opened at number one with $23.7 million in April of that year.

Another up weekend (that's five in a row) gives us a nice money-making vibe as we head into the final month of the summer movie season.