Box Office

From ew, The weekend’s two wide releases Inception and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice both scored a B+ with audiences but still ended the weekend with markedly different results. The mind-bendy heist film from director Christopher Nolan generated an estimated $60.4 million for its opening frame, a great success considering the complicated plot line and the vague marketing campaign. In contrast, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, which earned the same score from exit pollster CinemaScore, couldn’t catch a break from audiences, grossing only $17.3 million and a third spot for the three-day period. The Nicolas Cage, Jay Baruchel starrer has now earned a lackluster $24 million after five days of release. This will be one of those movies where Disney will be counting on the international audiences to save the movie from being a total disappointment. Despicable Me scared up spot two for the weekend with an estimated $32.7 million. The animated film’s strong hold of 42 percent puts its brief ten-day stint at $118 million. Inception and Despicable Me’s impressive numbers, which are an encouraging sign of audiences embracing original ideas, helped lead the box office to a 10 percent gain over last year at this time when Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince bowed to $78 million. It didn’t hurt that The Twilight Saga: Eclipse earned another $13.5 million to put its total cume at $265 million while Toy Story 3 fell a scant 44 percent to gross close to $12 million. Pixar’s highest-grossing film’s total now stands at $363 million.

Adam Sandler’s Grown Ups landed in the sixth slot. The film continues to hold in well, dropping only 37 percent its fourth weekend in theaters for an additional $10 million in ticket sales. The film’s total take stands at $129 million. Spot seven went to The Last Airbender. The film from director M. Night Shyamalan grossed an estimated $7.4 million its third weekend for a total cume of $115 million. Predators sank like bloated, forgettable sequel it is, dropping 73 percent its second weekend in theaters to earn $6.8 million. The film’s two-week total has reached $40 million. Spot nine and ten are being filled by Knight & Day and The Karate Kid. The films earned $3.7 million and $2.2 million respectively, putting total grosses for the two movies at $69 million and $169 million.