娱乐英语新闻:"Inception" tops North America box office on appeal of director

LOS ANGELES, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Owing to the massive appeal of acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Nolan, Warner Bros' contemporary sci-fi actioner "Inception" rose to the top of the box office and is expected to garner 60.4 million U.S. dollars over the weekend, the North America box office authority said, based on projected statistics Sunday.

The mind-bending sci-fi spectacular which stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Ken Watanabe, opened at approximately 6,700 screens at 3,792 theaters including a record IMAX release of 197 venues in Canada and the United States, taking in 21.6 million dollars during its opening day on Friday, with midnight screenings in 1, 600 locations.

The initial success was largely owing to writer-director Christopher Nolan's huge appeal. The work took the "Dark Knight" director 10 years to complete. Nolan's reputation and success with the blockbuster helped secure the film 100 million dollars in advertising expenditure. Distributor Warner Bros. allotted the movie a massive budget in excess of 150 million dollars and, similar to previous Warner releases "Harry Potter and the Half- Blood Prince" and "The Dark Knight," scheduled it in a prime mid- July spot.

Cast members (from L-R) Ken Watanabe, Ellen Page, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Berenger, Marion Cotillard and Joseph Gordon-Levitt pose at the premiere of "Inception" at the Grauman's Chinese theatre in Hollywood, California July 13, 2010. The movie opens in the U.S. on July 16.

In one of the few non-sequel blockbusters expected by critics this summer, Leonardo DiCaprio plays Dom Cobb, an espionage expert who has a highly specialized way of stealing corporate secrets: He extracts them from within the dreams of his targets. An aggressive advertising campaign played a major role in winning over viewers.

Universal's "Despicable Me," which was opened last weekend, is second with an estimated 32.7 million dollars in sales over two weekends.

"The Sorcerer's Apprentice," Walt Disney Studios' new live- action version of "Fantasia," one of the most classic of all time, opened in third, grossing 24.5 million dollars. Nicholas Cage plays Balthazar Blake, a master sorcerer in modern-day Manhattan who recruited Dave Stutler, a seemingly average guy with hidden potential as his reluctant protege, in a bid to defend the city from his arch-nemesis, Maxim Horvath.

The film opened Wednesday at 3,504 locations presumably in order to get a jump on "Inception," but generated a relatively unimpressive 7.1 million dollars in its first two days.

The rest of the top five are:

No.4: "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse," Summit, 13.5 million dollars this weekend, 264.9 million over three weeks;

No.5: "Toy Story 3," Disney/Pixar, 11.7 million dollars this weekend, 362.7 million dollars over five weeks.