When was the last time WB gave such unlimited resources to a director? Kubrick?

So if it made the same amount of money, but another hyped movie took #1 from it, you would have a different opinion of Inception's success? Doesn't make any sense. #1 in itself is irrelevant other then a nice to have.

The original made like 200 million worldwide and I think Warner saw it as another moneymaker. Who knows though when all is said and done how much money it will make as I'm surprised the first one made that much.

Nice to see Inception retain its top spot for the 3rd straight week. It's kind of become the movie everyone asks everyone else if they've seen, so that is helping it sustain. Like I said last week, I expect Inception to stick around the top five for a while, possibly into September.

FWIW, I am going to go out on a limb and predict the next Batman movie will break the records set by the previous one opening weekend.

The original did that much nine years ago. It doesn't help that the sequel was in pre-production hell for years and it's been sitting on the shelf for the past year.

Summer of 2012 might have movies beating each other's new opening weekend records. The Avengers, Spider-man 3D, and Batman 3 all have a shot at owning the new opening weekend. Star Trek 2 will be another blockbuster hit, but probably won't open as high as the other 3.

I think Transformers 3 has a great shot at being the record holder next year. Unlike the first 2, it's opening on a Friday. And it came within $3 mil of beating TDK's opening 5 day record.

Transformers 2 lost a lot of good will toward the Transformers name.

As much as I love giant robots...no Megan Fox, no sale.

No sale, period. TF2 was fucking retarded.

Won't matter, the second POTC was unwatchable and the third still did great business.

It was unwatchable and, yet, I watched it. Am I some sort of Zen master or demigod?

No. I'm just an idiot.

The student approached the master.
The master was weighing a flask.
The student said, "Master, I was told Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is unwatchable. Yet, somehow, I watched it. How is this possible?"
The master said, "This flask weighs eight ounces."
In that moment, the student was enlightened.

Actuals:

1 1 Inception WB $27,485,245 -35.7% 3,545 -247 $7,753 $193,313,741 $160 3
2 N Dinner for Schmucks P/DW $23,527,839 - 2,911 - $8,082 $23,527,839 $69 1
3 2 Salt Sony $19,471,355 -45.9% 3,612 - $5,391 $71,033,711 $110 2
4 3 Despicable Me Uni. $15,524,230 -34.5% 3,602 +2 $4,310 $190,330,425 $69 4
5 N Charlie St. Cloud Uni. $12,381,585 - 2,718 - $4,555 $12,381,585 $44 1
6 N Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore WB $12,279,363 - 3,705 - $3,314 $12,279,363 $85 1
7 5 Toy Story 3 BV $5,122,907 -42.6% 2,105 -661 $2,434 $389,761,491 $200 7
8 7 Grown Ups Sony $4,548,144 -38.8% 2,269 -590 $2,004 $150,761,385 $80 6
9 4 The Sorcerer's Apprentice BV $4,465,524 -53.7% 2,524 -980 $1,769 $52,026,528 $150 3
10 8 The Twilight Saga: Eclipse Sum. $4,014,953 -44.1% 2,334 -787 $1,720 $288,199,907 $68 5
11 6 Ramona and Beezus Fox $3,710,990 -52.5% 2,719 - $1,365 $16,375,681 $15 2
12 11 The Kids Are All Right Focus $3,525,585 +35.9% 847 +646 $4,162 $9,636,508 $4 4

I have to say I don't think Universal expected Despicable Me to top $200MM...

Glad to see Inception stay at the top.

Glad to see Toy Story 3 and Despicable Me doing so well. $400M and $200M will be very respectable numbers for these two.

It seems Inception will likely cross $200m today (will know tomorrow) and it isn't particularly close to stalling out yet. Made $4.31m yesterday. Also an added note, TNT bought rights for Inception to air a few weeks ago, at 12% BO, capped at $24m which it hits today.

Amazing how much cable channels pay to air movies.

Which is why when they do air them, they do show it 3 times (at least) in a weekend and then several more times throughout the year.

I'm sure it will fit comfortably between re-airings of Enemy of the State and Man on Fire... or is that FX?

Inception's 2nd Monday had dropped 40% from the previous. This week, Monday's total was only down 29% from last Monday. If the rest of the weekday plays similar to yesterday and it has another 35% or so drop this weekend, it'll be at nearly $225+ million. If it plays long enough, maybe it can reach $300 mil. The word-of-mouth and lack of real competition will keep this in theaters for several more weeks. I'm hoping it gets there. But even at $275 mil would be very impressive. Not to mention it's playing strong overseas.