Weekend Box Office: ‘Inception’ Is A Dream For WB, ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ A Nightmare For Disney

Wouldn’t you know it, a pretty interesting movie opened at #1. The $150-200 million “Inception” got off to a big start – so maybe it was close to $100 million off the opening gross for Chris Nolan’s last film, but it’s still spectacular for an actual original property. We’ve been conditioned to look at most blockbusters as needing a $70+ million opening to stay above water, but we forget that’s because people tend to rush those films in the first weekend in response to advertisements that are overly obvious and/or because they are sequels and adaptations – audiences being more inclined to see something familiar. The ads for “Inception” painted it as a one-of-a-kind experience, and so while it was less of an opening weekend draw than some of this summer’s more obvious quick fixes, $60 million for an original concept in Hollywood is stellar.

If “Inception” performs like your average run-of-the-mill blockbuster (and a Cinemascore of B+ only, suggesting some assholes had major quibbles with the ending, hints that remains a possibility), then $60 million may still prove no great shakes, and 50% drops each weekend won’t end up painting a pretty domestic picture. But surprise, people, this is a pretty great movie. Not only that, but it acts on a very primal, exciting level, in addition to being a cerebral think-piece. Is “Inception” going to have to hustle to match something like the goddamned “Karate Kid”? If word of mouth still exists, hopefully not, because unless you live near an arthouse, this is the most compelling movie anyone’s going to release this summer: so maybe tell your friends. “Avatar” opened to $77m and had legs enough to dominate for weeks on end, and this is a far better, and more exciting movie. Plus, Tom Hardy.

“Despicable Me” stood fast after a strong debut, and… not much to say, really. The ads re-focused after ineffectual teasers nearly a year ago, furthering the thesis that kids (and some adults, we presume) will literally see anything as long as it’s animated. Not a great message, but, in most cases, these are not lazily-made movies – you can’t shit these types of pictures out the way Fox does with live action blockbusters. Meanwhile, one of the summer’s more surprising failures has to be “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.” The kids’ film sputtered at the starting gate and, with a meek five day opening, it will probably have a final domestic gross at a very small fraction of the hefty budget. This is the second straight Jerry Bruckheimer bomb for Disney this summer, and while “Prince of Persia” might score numbers to break even at the DVD stage, this thing is dead in the water.

Then again, there’s no such thing as a surprising failure in Hollywood, is there? Sure, it looked flashy and workable from the trailers, and you had Nicolas Cage spearheading the entire campaign. But maybe next time you don’t shoot your Disney property almost entirely at nighttime with trailers scored to Nine Inch Nails, ‘kay? The parents likely felt it was too dark for the kiddos, and the child-less adults could smell it was a Disney kids’ picture, particularly considering the animated roots of the title. The protagonist being a college student (most movies for “adults” have college-age protags anyway) and the onslaught of ads featuring character banners for the likes of Alfred Molina and Monica Bellucci* further confused things. Who is this movie for? The story, whatever it might be, was not in the ads, nor was there a specific demographic focus, a deadly combination for a summer tentpole. Oh, and after this and “Knight And Day,” can we confirm the five day Wednesday opening thing only works for huge event pictures? No one was skipping work for “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.”

“The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” is actually performing better than its predecessor’s freefall and though it will be hard-pressed to reach the near-$300 domestic take of the second film, it’s essentially doubling its numbers overseas. Remember, the worldwide take for “New Moon” was $700 million. Mormon housewives, dude. We’ll never fully understand the appeal of this garbage and how self-hating their fanbase must be, but money talks louder than we do. This week’s theory: mind control. “Toy Story 3” is still pulling in audiences, though after that big opening, it definitely performed more like the average blockbuster. It’s already Pixar’s biggest theatrical performer, and should crest $600 million worldwide with ease, so everybody gets the yacht they thought they’d buy with this. Next up, “Cars 2.” Things are worry-free at Pixar, thanks for asking.

Yes, we’re going to harp on this: the lowest percentage drop for the second straight week belonged to Adam Sandler’s “Grown Ups.” After four weeks, this damn thing hasn’t broken a sweat getting to $130 million, despite the entire painful experience possibly ranking as the worst Sandler effort so far, and good lord, that is fucking saying something. Does this mean the undeserved big screen careers of Rob Schneider and David Spade may continue? Sandler’s biggest film was “Big Daddy” at $163 million, and while that was an insufferable, morally and creatively bankrupt film, it’s fucking Francis Bacon compared to “Grown Ups.” “Grown Ups” could conceivably eclipse that effort and become Sandler’s biggest performer, further validating his intolerable, mean-spirited shtick.

“The Last Airbender” continues its slow decline down the charts. So much for word of mouth – it appears critics, nerds and normals had been rallying against this film after the opening weekend, but its week-to-week drops, possibly lessened by 3D, have remained pedestrian, and the film’s final tally ($130?) is far from disastrous. No sequel, but yes, M Night Shyamalan will work again, and frequently. Now, if you’re looking for sharp plummets, look no further than “Predators.” After a solid-if-unspectacular bow last weekend, the creature feature lost 73% of its audience. Robert Rodriguez and co. kept the costs down, but Fox was certainly hoping this would equal or surpass the $59 million take of the original film in this series, which was, um, 23 years ago.

“Knight And Day” is within spitting distance of $80 million, but we don’t think that ol’ Tom Cruise publicity magic is going to goose this to $100m like it did for “Collateral” and “Vanilla Sky.” If it equals “Valkyrie”‘s $83 million take, Fox and company will take it home and hope for international, but it looks like it might not even reach that signpost. “The Karate Kid” is a win, however, though more impressive are the two indies breathing down its neck. “Cyrus” might be a little too abrasive to be a hit on par with Fox Searchlight’s “(500) Days Of Summer” but a $5 million gross at under 500 theaters is impressive. “The Kids Are All Right” scored the week’s best per-screen average, with $27k per and a $1 million total from only 38 screens, though “The Girl Who Played With Fire,” at $2 million after two weeks, isn’t showing the per-screen strength that made its predecessor, “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” the year’s breakout indie hit.

The news wasn’t all so positive for every indie release. Rocky Mountain Pictures, a Christian distributor, tried to snag a foothold with the “High School Musical” audience through the tween-centric “Standing Ovation,” which couldn’t even reach “Bandslam” levels on 600 screens. The $579 per-screen average probably doesn’t even cover the film’s juicebox budget. At least “Standing Ovation” (from the director of “Mac and Me”!) does seem to have a cast of actual kids, many with braces, even, which is more endearing than this genre’s usual Teen Beat-ready nature. Also, credit to Rocky Mountain Pictures, as after the Ben Stein creationism doc and the Christians-tame-the-Natives drama “End of the Spear,” this might be their least insidious release yet.

1. Inception – $60.4 million
2. Despicable Me – $32.7 million ($118 mil.)
3. Nic Cage High Again, This Time With A Cape – $17.4 million ($25 mil.)
4. Phases Of The Moon 3 – $13.5 million ($265 mil.)
5. Toy Story 3 – $11.7 million ($363 mil.)
6. Adam Sandler Shits On You – $10 million ($129 mil.)
7. The Last Airbender – $7.4 million ($115 mil.)
8. Predators – $6.8 million ($40 mil.)
9. Knight And Day – $3.7 million ($69 mil.)
10. The Karate Kid – $2.2 million ($169 mil.)

*Oh, and yes, can we kill character banners? In this case, we’ll accept it for the sake of Monica Bellucci, but does knowing Alfred Molina is the villain really up the anticipation for a movie? No one will remember the third most important character in your Jerry Bruckheimer summer blockbuster a year from now, thanks.