Angelina’s ‘Salt’ shakes, but can't stir ‘Inception’

NEW YORK: For a movie 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. Salt settled for second, with a gross that was good—but was it good enough? Salt earned $36.5 million, on the higher end of expectations. The action flick's debut was bigger than recent star movies from Tom Cruise (Knight and Day) and Matt Damon (The Green Zone), and about even with Russell Crowe's Robin Hood. But with a budget reputedly north of $100 million, 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 (and did well). The jury, meanwhile, is not out on Inception. After two weekends, it's made $143 million domestically—a Dark Knight-like number for a film that's not based on a comic book (or a video game, or a Utah mom's vampire dream, or…), and not charging 3D prices.