The Other Guys Knocks Inception Out of Top Spot at Box Office

As expected The Other Guys came in #1 at the box office this weekend though slightly exceeding industry expectations. Inception, which had won its first three weekends, slipped to #2 but again held extremely well. The other new opener Step Up 3D had a decent opening but didn’t reach the heights that the first two in the series had.

The Adam McKay directed The Other Guys, starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg, made $35.6 million. The movie had heavy promotion and even got primarily good reviews (79% on RT – read my review here). This represents the second best opening in Ferrell’s career behind only Talladega Nights (also directed by McKay). The film held up well over the course of the weekend indicating that word-of-mouth is good as well.

With Step Up 3D, the third movie in the Step Up franchise, adding on 3D and taking advantage of the higher ticket prices many thought it would get the biggest opening out of them. However it ended up taking in just $15.5 million which was less than the original ($20.6) and the sequel ($22.1). Its performance over the course of the weekend also suggests it won’t have strong legs with fans of the series going out to see it on opening day followed by a concerning drop-off. This doesn’t make Step Up 3D a failure by any means however, its budget was just $30 million which it will make back and it is primed to do well when it hits DVD.

Inception was finally bumped out of #1 but it fell just 32% bringing in $18.6 million. Word-of-mouth has really driven the film, which was originally thought to maybe be too challenging to audiences and difficult to market. The Christopher Nolan film though was largely sold on his name and it worked. Inception has now made over $227 million with $300 million now looking quite possible which is just remarkable all things considered. Worldwide it is already nearing $500 million.