Inception earned the most money at the box office this past weekend. The Christopher Nolan-Leonardo DiCaprio dreamscape stayed atop the weekend box office with an estimated $43.5 million.

Salt settled for second, with a gross that was good—but was it good enough?
Salt earned $36.5 million, on the higher end of expectations. The action flick’s debut was bigger than recent star movies from Tom Cruise (Knight and Day) and Matt Damon (The Green Zone), and about even with Russell Crowe’s Robin Hood.
But with a budget reputedly north of $100 million, Salt still has a lot of catching up to do. And box-office watchers still have a lot of waiting to do. There are no reported overseas grosses yet. The film only opened in a few countries (and did well).
The jury, meanwhile, is not out on Inception.
After two weekends, it’s made $143 million domestically—a Dark Knight-like number for a film that’s not based on a comic book (or a video game, or a Utah mom’s vampire dream, or…), and not charging 3D prices.
Here’s a complete look at the weekend’s top-grossing films, per Friday-Sunday estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations:
Inception, $43.5 million
Salt, $36.5 million
Despicable Me, $24.1 million
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, $9.7 million
Toy Story 3, $9 million
Ramona and Beezus, $8 million
Grown Ups, $7.6 million
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, $7 million
The Last Airbender, $4.2 million
Predators, $2.9 million



