By Chris Kavan - 08/16/10 at 10:08 AM CT
Looks like Sylvester Stallone had the right idea: call up some favors from some old friends, invite in some new ones and blow lots of stuff up. The throw-back action-packed film The Expendables took in $35 million over the weekend to secure the top of the box office.
On the other end of the spectrum, the women-friendly Eat, Pray, Love managed to have a decent $23.7 million opening - good enough for 2nd place. It was also good news for Julia Roberts, who hasn't had a bigger opening since 2001's America's Sweethearts.
One of the films I've been looking forward to couldn't appease a broader audience. The hyper-kinetic Scott Pilgrim could only manage a 5th-place $10.5 million opening. I suspect more robust business on DVD but it was a big disappointment none-the-less.
The Other Guys kept over 50% of its opening week audience to land in third place with $18 million, for a total take of $70.5 million. Meanwhile, the mind trip that is Inception landed in 4th-place with $11.3 million and is nearing the $250 million total mark.
Taking the biggest hit week-to-week was the dance film Step Up 3D, which lost 58% of its audience to land in 7th place with $6.6 million with just under $30 million total. Despicable Me continues to hold its audience over, losing 27% and making an additional $6.8 million. The animated film now stands at $222 million.
In addition, while outside of the top 10, Toy Story 3 passed the $400 million mark to become the highest grossing animated film. Worldwide the film has surpassed $940 million and could break the $1 billion mark before its run is over.
