‘Inception’ earns a dreamy $60.4M

Los Angeles ? Leonardo DiCaprio and Christopher Nolan’s “Inception” is anything but a sleeper as the thriller opened big with $60.4 million and a No. 1 finish at the weekend box office, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The Warner Bros. action tale about a team that sneaks into people’s dreams is DiCaprio’s biggest opening weekend, topping his previous best of $41.1 million for last winter’s “Shutter Island.”

“Inception” falls far short of director Christopher Nolan’s best, though. Nolan directed the Batman blockbuster “The Dark Knight,” which opened over the same weekend two years ago with a record $158.4 million.

Warner Bros. has carved out a niche with this mid-July weekend. The studio followed “The Dark Knight” with a $77.8 million opening for “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” over the same weekend last year.

The final “Harry Potter” movie debuts on the same weekend next summer. Warner plans to open Nolan’s third “Batman” movie over that weekend two years from now.

Slipping to second place with $32.7 million was the previous weekend’s No. 1 movie, Steve Carell’s animated hit “Despicable Me.” The Universal release raised its 10-day total to $118.4 million.

Disney’s family adventure “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” was a dud, opening at No. 3 with $17.4 million, lifting its total to $24.5 million since premiering Wednesday.

With “Inception” and “Despicable Me,” the weekend marked a rare instance when two original stories — not sequels, spinoffs or adaptations of comic books, best-sellers or other properties — led the box office.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com.

  1. “Inception,” $60.4 million.

  2. “Despicable Me,” $32.7 million.

  3. “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” $17.4 million.

  4. “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” $13.5 million.

  5. “Toy Story 3,” $11.7 million.

  6. “Grown Ups,” $10 million.

  7. “The Last Airbender,” $7.5 million.

  8. “Predators,” $6.8 million.

  9. “Knight and Day,” $3.7 million.

  10. “The Karate Kid,” $2.2 million.