Director Christopher Nolan's Inception was finally knocked out of the top spot after almost a month by newcomers The Other Guys.

BOX OFFICE BEAT DOWN: The Expendables Rules with $35 Million!

August 15th, 2010

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE

• 1
  The Expendables$35 million
• 2
  Eat, Pray, Love$23.7 million
• 3
  The Other Guys$18 million
• 4
  Inception$11.3 million
• 5
  Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World$10.5 million
• 6
  Despicable Me$6.7 million
• 7
  Step Up 3D$6.6 million
• 8
  Salt$6.35 million
• 9
  Dinner for Schmucks$6.31 million
• 10
  Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore$4.07 million

#2

#8#9#10

As predicted last week, director Christopher Nolan's Inception was finally knocked out of the top spot after almost a month by newcomers The Other Guys. But with three highly anticipated new movies entering the box office this weekend including the testosterone-filled action movie The Expendables, the comic book based rock-opera Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World and the Julia Roberts-vehicle Eat, Pray, Love, which is based on the popular book, it was inevitable that the buddy-cop comedy would fall after only a week on top of the charts.

Debuting at number one this week is the new action film The Expendables from writer/director and star Sylvester Stallone. Besides Stallone, the film stars an array of the toughest action stars from several different decades including Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, Terry Crews, Oscar nominee Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The film opened on 3,270 screens and earned about $10,713 on each for an opening weekend total of $35 million. That's not bad considering the films $82 million production budget.

Debuting at number two is Eat, Pray, Love directed by Ryan Murphy (Glee) and based on the internationally popular novel by author Elizabeth Gilbert. The film stars Oscar winners Julia Roberts and Javier Bardem, as well as Oscar nominee Richard Jenkins, Golden Globe winner James Franco and Billy Crudup. The film opened on 3,082 screens and earned about $7,690 on each for an opening weekend total of $23.7 million. That's not bad considering the film's $60 million production budget.

Falling two places from last week to number three is buddy-cop action/comedy film The Other Guys starring Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Samuel L. Jackson, Dwayne Johnson, Michael Keaton and Eva Mendes. While the film dropped 49.4% from the previous week and it still managed to earn roughly $4,930 in each of its 3,651 theaters for a weekend total of $18 million. Now in just two weeks the film has earned $70.5 million, which puts it close to making back its entire $85 million production budget.

Falling two places from last week in fourth place is Inception, the extremely popular sci-fi action thriller from director Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight). The film stars an incredible cast of actors including Oscar nominees Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page and Ken Watanabe, Oscar winners Marion Cotillard and Michael Caine, as well as Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, and Lukas Haas. While the film dropped 38.6% from the previous week and was seen on 298 less screens, it still managed to earn roughly $3,644 in each of its 3,120 theaters for a weekend total of $11.3 million. Now in just five weeks the film has earned $248.5 million, which surpasses its purported $160 million production budget.

Rounding out the top five this week is the much anticipated new film, Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World from Hot Fuzz director Edgar Wright based on the popular series of comic books from author Bryan Lee O'Malley. The film stars a who's who of popular young actors including Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Chris Evans, Anna Kendrick, Brandon Routh, Alison Pill, Satya Bhabha, Ellen Wong and Jason Schwartzman. The film opened on 2,818 screens and earned about $3,735 on each for an opening weekend total of $10.5 million. But the film will need to stay strong in the next few weeks if it wants to earn back its purported $­­䏐-90 million production budget.

Doing well again this week in limited release is the new independent film from acclaimed filmmaker Lisa Cholodenko (Laurel Canyon) entitled The Kids Are All Right. The film is about a happy lesbian couple raising two teen-age kids who finally decide that they would like to meet their biological father. The movie stars a fantastic cast of critically acclaimed actors including Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo and Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland). The film earned $1,641 on each of its 830 screens for a weekend total of around $1.3 million. The movie has now earned $16.7 million in six weeks of release, far surpassing its $4 million production cost.

Also continuing to do well in limited release this week, thanks to great reviews and Oscar worthy performances from it's leads, is the new independent drama Get Low starring Oscar winners Robert Duvall and Sissy Spacek and Oscar nominee Bill Murray. The film added 27 theaters this week and rose an impressive 76.8% from its debut last week. It earned $1,188 on each of its 53 screens for a weekend total of $387,400. The film has now earned $836,000 in just three weeks and if it continues to have good word-of-mouth as it opens in more cities it could end up earning back its $7 million production cost.

Next week will see the opening of four new films in wide release.

First up next week is Piranha 3D, the remake of the classic John Sayles written, Joe Dante directed horror film from the '1970s. The film stars Adam Scott, Elisabeth Shue, Ving Rhames, Jerry O'Connell, Christopher Lloyd and Richard Dreyfuss.

Also opening in wide release next week is Nanny McPhee Returns, the sequel to the 2005 hit family film written and starring Emma Thompson. The follow-up features an all-star cast of actors including Maggie Gyllenhaal, Maggie Smith, Ralph Fiennes, Rhys Ifans and Ewan McGregor.

Next will also see the release of Lottery Ticket, a new comedy starring Bow Wow, Brandon T. Jackson, Naturi Naughton, Keith David, Terry Crews, Mike Epps and Ice Cube.

Finally, opening in wide release next week is the vampire spoof-film Vampires Suck starring Ken Jeong, Matt Lanter, Anneliese van der Pol and Charlie Weber. So please check back in seven days to see who comes out on top at the box office next week!

The Expendables was released August 13th, 2010 and stars Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, David Zayas. The film is directed by Sylvester Stallone.

Eat, Pray, Love was released August 13th, 2010 and stars Julia Roberts, I. Gusti Ayu Puspawati, Hadi Subiyanto, Billy Crudup, Viola Davis, A. Jay Radcliff, Mike O'Malley, Ashlie Atkinson. The film is directed by Ryan Murphy.

The Other Guys was released August 6th, 2010 and stars Derek Jeter, Samuel L. Jackson, Dwayne Johnson, Larnell Stovall, Jalil Jay Lynch, Roy T. Anderson, Andrew Secunda, Sara Chase. The film is directed by Adam McKay.