'Inception' trumps 'Salt' with $43.5M weekend

The Associated Press, Sunday, July 25, 2010, 7:35am (PDT)

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Leonardo DiCaprio's "Inception" has won a battle of superstar action thrillers over Angelina Jolie's "Salt" at the weekend box office.

"Inception" remained the No. 1 movie for the second-straight weekend with $43.5 million. The thriller that unfolds in people's dreams raised its 10-day total to $143.7 million.

The spy caper "Salt" debuted a solid No. 2 with $36.5 million.

Coming in at No. 3 with $24.1 million was Steve Carell's family hit "Despicable Me." The animated comedy raised its domestic total to $161.7 million.

In a rare convergence of fresh ideas, the top three movies all were original stories, not sequels or adaptations of comic books, best-sellers, video games or other pre-existing material.