For a Picture sold solely on its movie star, Angelina Jolie's Salt did better than most.But Inception was still greater. The Christopher Nolan Leonardo DiCaprio dreamscape stayed atop the weekend box office with an estimated 43.5 million dollors.
Salt settled for second, with a gross that was good but was it good enough?
Salt earned 36.5 million dollors, on the higher end of expectations. The action flick's debut was bigger than recent star movies from Tom Cruise and Matt Damon, and about even with Russell Crowe's Robin Hood.
But with a budget reputedly north of 100 million dollors, 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.
The jury, meanwhile, is not out on Inception.
After two weekends, it's made 143 million dollors domestically a Dark Knight like number for a movie that's not based on a comic book and not charging 3D prices.