When writing yesterday about Inception's chances of having a long-term impact on Hollywood, I emphasized that the movie will need to have strong legs in order for its $62 million opening weekend to translate into the kind of box office you can't ignore. It seemed like ecstatic word of mouth would probably do a lot to keep the ticket sales humming, and now we've got our first proof of just how powerful it can be. According to an early estimate from Warner Bros. (via Box Office), Inception brought in $10.2 million on Monday.

If that pace keeps up, the movie could earn $100 million by Friday, which is a pretty impressive feat no matter how you look at it. By comparison Toy Story 3, which currently stands as the year's biggest hit, made $15.6 million on its first Monday; Avatar, a movie with legs Inception can only hope to match, made $16.3 million. So while Christopher Nolan's latest is not on par to match The Dark Knight's history-defying box office performance-- and no one thought it would be-- it seems likely to grow from that weird arty movie all your geeky friends can't stop talking about to something closer to a genuine cultural phenomenon.