Opening his new film on the same weekend he debuted The Dark Knight two years ago, director Chris Nolan again scored with critics and fans with Inception.
The brain-twister raked in $60.4 million, according to studio estimates. While some analysts had projected an opening as high as $70 million, the bow establishes Nolan as the thinking man's action filmmaker.
"He's a star for us," says Dan Fellman of Warner Bros., which released Inception and touted Nolan as much as star Leonardo DiCaprio. "It's clear there's no kind of movie he can't make, and make well."
Inception was a labor of love for Nolan, who worked more than a decade on the story of a thief who specializes in stealing thoughts. Nolan's earlier movies, from Mementoto The Prestige, turned tidy profits despite having more twists than pretzels. But not enough to convince a studio to produce his special-effects-driven thriller.
That changed after Dark Knight, which became the third highest-grossing film ever with $533 million and prompted Warner Bros. to open its checkbook to Nolan. Now the director is working on the Batman sequel, which he'll write and direct, and a Superman film, which he'll produce, Fellman says.
The film marked DiCaprio's best debut, eclipsing this year's Shutter Island, which opened to $41.1 million. The picture also scored with Imax audiences. While the gargantuan screens account for less than 1% of the USA's screens, Imax accounted for 12% of Inception's business.
"For all the fuss over 3-D, this is a 2-D movie that is doing terrific business," says Imax's Greg Foster. "And people see Chris' movies more than once. We're not moving this out of theaters anytime soon."
The animated Despicable Me dropped a healthy 42% from its opening to take second place with $9.4 million. The comedy has done $118.4 million in two weeks.
Nicolas Cage's Sorcerer's Apprentice couldn't conjure up much business, opening to a middling $17 million. The movie has done $24.5 million since its opening Wednesday.
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse was fourth with $13.5 million, followed by Toy Story 3's $11.7 million.
Ticket sales surged 10% over the same weekend last year, though attendance remains down by 2% from last year.
Final figures are due Monday.
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