‘Inception’ kicks ahead of ‘Dinner For Schmucks’ at No. 1 with $27.4M in third weekend

‘Inception’ kicks ahead of ‘Schmucks’ with $27.4M

LOS ANGELES — Leonardo DiCaprio’s mind-bending thriller “Inception” continued to entrance moviegoers, again taking the No. 1 spot at the box office in its third weekend with $27.4 million.

Steve Carell’s farce “Dinner For Schmucks” debuted in the No. 2 position with an appetizing $23.5 million, while Zac Efron’s drama “Charlie St. Cloud” and the 3-D sequel “Cats & Dogs: the Revenge of Kitty Galore,” respectively opened in the No. 5 and No. 6 spots.

Angelina Jolie’s spy caper “Salt” clung to No. 3 in its second weekend, and the animated film “Despicable Me,” which also features Carell, maintained the No. 4 post in its fourth weekend.

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Hollywood.com are:

1. “Inception,” Warner Bros., $27,485,245, 3,545 locations, $7,753 average, $193,313,741, three weeks.

2. “Dinner For Schmucks,” Paramount, $23,527,839, 2,911 locations, $8,082 average, $23,527,839, one week.

3. “Salt,” Sony, $19,471,355, 3,612 locations, $5,391 average, $71,033,711, two weeks.

4. “Despicable Me,” Universal, $15,524,230, 3,602 locations, $4,310 average, $190,330,425, four weeks.

5. “Charlie St. Cloud,” Universal, $12,381,585, 2,718 locations, $4,555 average, $12,381,585, one week.

6. “Cats & Dogs: the Revenge of Kitty Galore,” Warner Bros., $12,279,363, 3,705 locations, $3,314 average, $12,279,363, one week.

7. “Toy Story 3,” Disney, $5,122,907, 2,105 locations, $2,434 average, $389,761,491, seven weeks.

8. “Grown Ups,” Sony, $4,548,144, 2,269 locations, $2,004 average, $150,761,385, six weeks.

9. “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” Disney, $4,465,524, 2,524 locations, $1,769 average, $52,026,528, three weeks.

10. “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” Summit, $4,014,953, 2,334 locations, $1,720 average, $288,199,907, five weeks.

11. “Ramona and Beezus,” Fox, $3,710,990, 2,719 locations, $1,365 average, $16,375,681, two weeks.

12. “The Kids Are All Right,” Focus, $3,525,585, 847 locations, $4,162 average, $9,636,508, four weeks.

13. “The Last Airbender,” Paramount, $1,815,170, 1,238 locations, $1,466 average, $127,293,447, five weeks.

14. “Predators,” Fox, $1,093,290, 873 locations, $1,252 average, $49,491,249, four weeks.

15. “Knight and Day,” Fox, $700,791, 831 locations, $843 average, $74,185,643, six weeks.

16. “The Karate Kid,” Sony, $595,026, 461 locations, $1,291 average, $172,932,064, eight weeks.

17. “Shrek Forever After,” Paramount, $574,024, 330 locations, $1,739 average, $235,646,952, 11 weeks.

18. “The Girl Who Played With Fire,” Music Box, $542,670, 174 locations, $3,119 average, $3,770,754, four weeks.

19. “Winter’s Bone,” Roadside Attractions, $308,597, 139 locations, $2,220 average, $4,017,162, eight weeks.

20. “Iron Man 2,” Paramount, $301,277, 286 locations, $1,053 average, $311,417,007, 13 weeks.

Online:

www.hollywood.com/boxoffice

Universal Pictures and Focus Features are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric Co.; Sony Pictures, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount and Paramount Vantage are divisions of Viacom Inc.; Disney’s parent is The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is a division of The Walt Disney Co.; 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures and Fox Atomic are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a consortium of Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group, Sony Corp., Comcast Corp., DLJ Merchant Banking Partners and Quadrangle Group; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC Films is owned by Rainbow Media Holdings, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corp.; Rogue Pictures is owned by Relativity Media LLC; Overture Films is a subsidiary of Liberty Media Corp.