As far as the general audience goes, I'm not sure I agree. Didn't Avatar get an A from older audiences? I think they love well-executed linear storytelling. Doesn't matter if it's action or not.

BOM estimate:

$9,705,000

But AVATAR was extremely straightforward and basic in terms of linear storytelling. It kept all the crazyness and weirdness for production design. INCEPTION starts in medias res, jumps back to tell the story of how Leo washed up on the beach, and in doing so descends into worlds-within-worlds-within-worlds. Not exactly as easy to follow as AVATAR's A-B-C narrative, and the story takes a good bit longer to really jump into gear because of all the setup necessary so audiences can follow what's happening 90 minutes in.

(note: I'm a fan of both INCEPTION and AVATAR, so let's head off any of that discussion.)

No film details here, please. Not without putting them in spoilers.

No spoilers, dammit! It has not opened yet everywhere. THINK before you post! Or have you used up all your braincells for Inception?

That's exactly my point. Avatar has straightforward storytelling whereas Inception doesn't. Avatar being an action movie didn't stop older audiences from loving it. Like I said, they prefer well-crafted linear storytelling. Even if a nonlinear flick has amazing craftsmanship, it's harder for them to enjoy it than younger audiences.

I see a sellout. 830PM at Regal Union Sq NYC. Amazing for wednesday considering this movie is not doing record breaking numbers. I dont see it having a double digit drop today.

I don't see why anyone is surprised by these drops. It was a given Inception would hold really, really well.

Very strong Tuesday for Inception!

when the 70%+ friday increase comes in they will all lose their minds

Sorry guys -- my apologies. Wasn't thinking.

Wow, this is doing terrific. Get ready for some of the best legs of the summer.

Still tracking nicely against Pirates of the Caribbean and should catch up to its total over the weekend, even with POTC's early Wednesday start.

pirates went up 65% on friday people, be pepared

I wouldn't be surprised by a less than 30% drop this weekend

were I you I would get ready for a sub 10% drop

This film is a super freak.

Actual is $9.76m or a 4.1% drop. Wow.

Yes, I'm willing to say $300m is 90% likely now.

nice

that was locked on sunday, i'm eying 400m, hoping for 50m+ this coming wknd

BJs New Breakdown:

Wed: 9.25m -5%
Thur: 9.25m NC

Opening Wk: 101m

Fri: 16.20m +75%
Sat: 21.90m +34%
Sun: 18.90m -14%

2nd Wknd: 57.00m -9%

it will happen fo sho, sub 10% drop

I'm impressed with the weekday numbers as well, but we are just on Tuesday, I think it's a little premature to call $300 million yet. I really think we have to see how it fares this weekend before we can really determine if it will have the legs for it or not. It's obviously exploding with the twitter aged crowds, but is it going beyond that? This weekend's numbers might help us determine that a bit better, as most the twitter crowd has all the time in the world on summer weekdays, so strong numbers aren't all that surprising, though still no less impressive.

^ Agreed. Also last couple of Tuesdays have been very strong. Though this is more than impressive and Inception is still working on higher scales EVERYTHING else increased today which means this more towards Tuesday being a good day rather than the legs. Again this is more than impressive for this movie and it was AWESOME before all the other numbers came out, now it is great but not WOW number.