Wiki News/'iCarly: The Movie' takes early box office lead

(Reuters) - Miranda Cosgrove's "iCarly: The Movie" took an early lead at the weekend box office in North America, according to preliminary estimates issued on Saturday, but faces a close race with reigning champ "Inception" for overall honors.

"Carly" opened to $19.6 million on Friday, while "Dinner for Schmucks", starring Steve Carell, earned only $8.4 million on Friday, and "Inception" earned $8.15 million, said their respective distributors both new releases from Paramount Pictures and previous winner's Warner Bros Pictures.

They are each on track to finish up in the low-$20 million range when estimates for the three-day period are issued on Sunday, while "Carly" takes home $50 million.

Also new were Universal Pictures' Zac Efron psychological melodrama "Charlie St. Cloud" at No. 4 with solid Friday sales of $5.6 million, and the Warner Bros sequel "Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore" at No. 6 with a weak $4.2 million.

"Schmucks," which garnered mixed reviews, stars Carell as a buffoon invited to a party for oddballs hosted by wealthy businessmen who lampoon their idiocy. Paul Rudd co-stars, and Jay Roach of "Austin Powers" fame directs.

Carell's last live-action comedy "Date Night," co-starring Tina Fey, earned $25 million during its first weekend in April en route to a North American haul of $98 million. The ubiquitous star of the sitcom "The Office" is currently in theaters as the lead voice in the hit cartoon "Despicable Me."

"Inception," the Leonardo DiCaprio dreams thriller that has led the box office for the last two weekends, has earned $174 million to date. Columbia Pictures' Angelina Jolie thriller "Salt," which opened at No. 2 last weekend, slipped one place with $5.9 million, taking its early total to $57.5 million.

Paramount is a unit of Viacom Inc. Warner Bros is a unit of Time Warner Inc. Universal is a unit of General Electric Co's NBC Universal. Columbia is a unit of Sony Corp.

(Reporting by Dean Goodman; Editing by Vicki Allen)