Wiki News/Weekend Box Office: 'The Other Guys' beats 'iCarly: The Movie', but 'Step Up 3D' fails to do the same

If you've been following the success of Chris Nolan's Inception for the past few weeks, you were probably already prepared for this eventuality: Inception has finally been knocked off its perch atop the box office top ten. We knew this was going to happen sooner or later, folks, so let's not all get our panties in a wad about it. Will Ferrell's and Adam McKay's latest collaboration-- The Other Guys-- is the film that finally did it (with some help from Step-Up 3D, though not as much as yesterday's projections had suggested). How big is The Other Guys, and what was Inception's total when it finally got nudged out of the top spot? Find out below, my gentle Examiner readers...

Yesterday, the projections were telling us that Chris Nolan's Inception was going to get bounced into third place by The Other Guys and Step Up 3D. The rumor was, Will Ferrell's latest would pull in around $25m, while Step Up 3D would be sitting at around $20m, with Inception bringing up the rear in third with $18m or so. But-- surprise, surprise-- Step Up 3D plummetted on Sunday, leaving things wide open for Inception to climb back up into the number-two slot (note to self: never use the phrase "number-two slot" as a positive again). Haha, Step Up 3D: you got served. Let's look at the full top ten (numbers by Deadline), my precious snowflakes.



1. THE OTHER GUYS: $35.7 million

The Other Guys performed better than anyone expected, and there's going to be a lot of "See?! I toldja so" action coming my way today (you can read my review here, but the long and short of it is, it wasn't very good), but again: money doesn't equal quality. I like Will Ferrell, so I'm glad to see that he's got another semi-hit on his hands. Perhaps this newfound success for the Ferrell/McKay team (though, to be fair, their last film wasn't a bomb, just Ferrell's) will somehow convince Paramount to make Anchorman 2, and all will be right with the world.



2. INCEPTION: $18.2 million for the weekend, $228m cumulative

"Money doesn't equal quality", yes, but in the case of Inception it does. In fact, everything about Inception equals quality. Even with Step Up 3D having been released, Chris Nolan's film is still the best of the year. The story here is how a film that's intelligent, not based on an existing property, and rewarding to those who return for repeat viewings has become the unstoppable box office hit of the summer. In just three weeks, it's racked up nearly $230m, and shown strong legs during the week. It'll be interesting to see if The Other Guys stays in the top spot during the week ahead. Don't be surprised if Inception crawls back up to first, people.

3. ICARLY: THE MOVIE: $17 million for the weekend, $82 cumlative

Yikes. Looks like Miranda Cosgrove, Jennette McCurdy and Nathan Kress are going to need some help from Fred. But, the movie did fell slightly 57% on it's second weekend and is already have 80 million viewers on their popular webshow iCarly.



3. STEP UP 3D: $15.3 million

No, that's not a picture from Step Up 3D. That's an old photo we used in an article about Alison Brie. I'm not going to waste a single second looking up photos for Step Up 3D, people. The film nosedived between its Friday debut and Sunday, and even the higher 3D ticket prices couldn't elevate it enough to topple Inception (contrary to the projections we ran yesterday). Can you remember another 3D film that debuted this summer that didn't debut in first? Step Up-- as a franchise-- is probably done. And God bless Alison Brie.



4. SALT: $11 million

Still not even worth talking about.



5. DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS: $10.5 million, down 60% from last week, cumulative of $46.3m

Ouch. Dinner For Schmucks fells 60% in between this weekend and last week's debut, which indicates that...well, things are just about over for this one at the box office. Unless the film pulls something incredible out of its ass in the next week, it'll be in dollar theaters in no time. I was looking forward to this one-- I like everyone involved-- but stayed away after reading the reviews. Maybe, once I don't need to drop $10 to see it, it'll be worth giving a shot to. This one's just a big misfire for Carell, Rudd, and director Jay Roach. Another summer 2010 disappointment, to be sure.

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Well, there's not all that many surprises down here in the bottom five. You've got Despicable Me in sixth with a new total of $210m (compare that to Inception's $230m take, and consider that it's a kids' movie and in 3D) and that stupid-looking Cats and Dogs sequel in seventh with a new total of $26.5. Can't imagine why Warner Bros. thought a Cats and Dogs sequel was necessary, but let's hope they didn't spend a lot of money bringing that cinematic dream to life. Let's just note that ninth and tenth place are reserved-- as they have been for the past few weeks-- for Toy Story 3D and Grown-Ups, and then let's take a look at eighth place: Charlie St. Cloud.

Charlie St. Cloud was supposed to be the next big hit for Zac Efron, but the film bombed last weekend (didja hear about the weird necrophiliac subplot/plot twist? What the hell were those people thinking?) and did even worse this weekend: The film dropped almost 70% since its debut for a new total of $23.8m. Time for someone to change up their game plan a little bit, and by "someone" I mean Zac Efron.

Stay tuned for more funny videos, news, reviews, interviews, recaps, photos, and more from the Comedy Examiner's Office in the near future, folks. We took a mini-vacation from the world's comedic goings-on this weekend, but we're back with some pretty exciting stuff this week. Hit the "Subscribe" button up top so that you don't miss out, and check out these other recent Comedy Examiner articles while you're here:

AMERICA, THIS IS YOUR FAULT: YOUTUBE SENSATION "FRED" HAS MADE A MOVIE, AND NOW THERE'S A TRAILER (WITH VIDEO)-- in which something terrible occurs, and we watch something that can never be un-watched. Don't say I didn't warn you, people.

COMEDY EXAMINER REVIEW: "THE OTHER GUYS" IS JUST ANOTHER DISAPPOINTMENT FOR SUMMER 2010 MOVIE FANS-- in which the Comedy Examiner pays money to see The Other Guys and resents the decision almost immediately. Eva Mendes remains ridiculously hot, however, so it wasn't the most painful experience I've had in a theater this summer.

WHAT DOES RICKY GERVAIS THINK ABOUT TAKING OVER FOR STEVE CARELL ON NBC'S "THE OFFICE"? LET'S ASK HIM-- in which we learn-- directly from the source-- what Ricky Gervais thinks about taking over as boss of the Dunder-Mifflin Scranton branch. Sounds like it's never gonna happen, but a boy can dream, can't he?

AND NOW, A STUDIED DECONSTRUCTION OF THE LYRICS TO KATY PERRY'S TERRIFYING HIT SINGLE, "CALIFORNIA GURLS" (WITH VIDEO)-- in which we get to the bottom of one of the summer's biggest pop hits. What we discover is more shocking and horrifying than you'd expect. Plus, there's naked photos of Katy Perry. What's not to love?