US Box Office Estimates July 30 - August 1 2010

For a third week in a row Inception tops the charts, while Dinner for Schmucks comes in a close second, despite having led on the Friday charts. The dominance can partly be attributed to an original story told well, as it doesn't have the discountability of films based on other media, which can be discounted by those who disliked the original source. Jolie spy-flick Salt, another original film, slips behind schmucks to round out the top 3.


Despicable Me keeps it's place with decent retention and will hit the $200M mark by next weekend. By contrast, newcomer Cats&Dogs 2 will probably not see that mark any time soon, judging by it's poor opening week. The sequel is hampered by a lack of original actors (swapping Spiderman for Dougie Houser), and the time that's passed since the original - the majority of the original films fans have grown into the Twilight demographic in the 9 year gap. Charlie St. Cloud, an attempt to make Zac Efron more than a one-series hit, flounders a little with a ghost-feelgood film. The figures hide the realisation that the rights were the subject of a bidding war in 2003, before the book it was based on was even published. 

A fairly substantive gap takes us to Toy Story 3, still making the millions though, 7 weeks on, and likely to just crack the $400M mark before the kids head back to school. Grown Ups is also still making decent money, outlasting all expectations. The Sorcerer's Apprentice has freefallen from 4th to 9th, and could very well be a flop, as it's barely taken in 1/3 of it's $150M budget - there's only so many times you can go to the well on a story, and a 'big name' won't fix that. Finally, rounding out the top10, and defying last weeks prediction (and hope), is Eclipse.

Originality is at a high, with 5 original movies, including the top four - Hollywood take note! The other is, of course, Grown Ups.

Rank (last week)	Film	Weekend Gross (Millions)	Theaters	Total Gross to Date (Millions)	Weeks on release
1 (1)	Inception	$27.5	3,545	$193.3	3
2 (N)	Dinner for Schmucks	$23.3	2,911	$23.3	1
3 (2)	Salt	$19.2	3,612	$70.8	2
4 (3)	Despicable Me	$15.5	3,602	$190.3	4
5 (N)	Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore	$12.5	3,705	$12.5	1
6 (N)	Charlie St. Cloud	$12.1	2,718	$12.1	1
7 (5)	Toy Story 3	$5.0	2,105	$389.6	7
8 (7)	Grown Ups	$4.5	2,269	$150.7	6
9 (4)	The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010)	$4.3	2,524	$51.8	3
10 (8)	Twilight: Eclipse	$3.9	2,334	$288.2	5

It’s important to remember, these figures for the weekend are released lunch-time Sunday, so estimate Sunday’s figures, there may be some discrepancies. Figures provided by BoxOfficeMojo. Click here for the full weekend figures.