Weekend Box Office: Nolan throws Salt over his shoulder
That sputtering sound you hear is the summer movie season winding down, though the lack of compelling box office news doesn’t mean that nothing’s making money, just that the competition is a little less robust than in May, June, and early July. The Angelina Jolie actioner Salt was the strongest of the openers with $36.5 million, a solid enough total, but not enough to upend Christopher Nolan’s Inception, which took another $43.5 million on its second week, pushing its 10-day total to $143.7 million. The good news for Inception and last week’s #2 (and this week’s #3) Despicable Me is that neither dropped off too sharply from their opening frame—30.7% for the former, 26.5% for the latter—so they should earn healthy grosses through the end of August. (The Last Airbender, on the other hand…) The week’s other opener, the family film Ramona And Beezus earned a much more modest $8 million for sixth place, but with a budget ($15 million) that can withstand a little modesty.