Weekend Box Office - Inception Tops Chart For A Second Week

Is Inception the best movie of the year? Or is it just an adrenaline pumped ride through an intriguing but resolutionless special-effects ridden mine field where both plot and plot holes go to die? As the debate rages on, one thing is for certain: people on both sides are heading to theaters to watch and it shows in the box office numbers.

For the second weekend in a row Christopher Nolan's latest offering topped the sales chart. Inception bagged a solid $43 million, down just 30% from last week. Thanks to a solid continued interest from audiences during the week and into this second weekend the movie has gone from a dubious financial success to a solid profit-turner. At $143 million domestic and $84 million internationally, the film is well past recovering its $160 million budget. Now that the numbers are settled in its favor, let the frivoulous debate over whether or not Nolan deserves an Oscar begin!

Inception's continued dominance in the chart overshadowed the release of Angelina Jolie's latest action pic. Thriller Salt bowed in with just $36 million for a mediocre second place.

Meanwhile the underrated and undermarketed family flick Ramona and Beezus eeked in at 6th place with just $8 million. Not too bad for a movie made on a shoestring $15 million budget, but not nearly as hopeful as a movie getting positive reviews from 7 out of 10 critics.

For the full weekend top check out the chart below:

1. Inception $43,505,000  -  Total: $143,663,000 LW: 1     WR: 2     THTRS: 3,792

2. Salt * $36,500,000  -  Total: $36,500,000 LW: N     WR: 1     THTRS: 3,612

3. Despicable Me $24,100,000  -  Total: $161,700,000 LW: 2     WR: 3     THTRS: 3,600

4. The Sorcerer's Apprentice $9,685,000  -  Total: $42,643,000 LW: 3     WR: 2     THTRS: 3,504

5. Toy Story 3 $9,030,000  -  Total: $379,529,000 LW: 5     WR: 6     THTRS: 2,766

6. Ramona and Beezus * $8,000,000  -  Total: $8,000,000 LW: N     WR: 1     THTRS: 2,719

7. Grown Ups $7,600,000  -  Total: $142,412,000 LW: 6     WR: 5     THTRS: 2,859

8. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse $7,033,000  -  Total: $279,674,000 LW: 4     WR: 4     THTRS: 3,121

9. The Last Airbender $4,173,000  -  Total: $123,264,000 LW: 7     WR: 4     THTRS: 2,127

10. Predators $2,850,000  -  Total: $46,568,000 LW: 8     WR: 3     THTRS: 1,846