Inception Licks Salt at U.S. Box Office

Warner Bros.' INCEPTION fought off Angelina Jolie's SALT to remain the champion of the U.S. box office for the weekend of June 23-25, 2010.

Warner Bros.' INCEPTION fought off Angelina Jolie's SALT to remain the champion of the U.S. box office for the weekend of June 23-25, 2010. With vfx from Double Negative, Christopher Nolan's dreamscape thriller earned $43.5 million, lifting its cume to $143.7 million.

Columbia Pictures' SALT came in second with $36.5 million. CIS Vancouver, Framestore, Hirota Paint Industries (HPI), Lola Visual Effects, Proof and RhinoFX provided with visual effects.

Universal's DESPICABLE ME stole an additional $24.1 million in third. The Illumination Ent. animated production has brought in $161.7 million.

Disney's THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE conjured up another $9.69 million in fourth. With Double Negative, Asylum VFX, Hirota Paint Industries (HPI), Method Studios, Realscan 3D and Rising Sun Pictures, the Nicolas Cage starrer brought its cume to $42.6 million.

Staying steady in fifth, TOY STORY 3 escaped with an additional $9.03 million, raising its cume to $379.5 million.

Fox's family comedy RAMONA AND BEEZUS debuted at #6 with $8 million.

Sony's GROWN UPS slipped one slot to seventh, earning $7.6 million. The Adam Sandler laughter has made $142.4 million to date.

Summit's THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE plummeted from fourth to eighth, bringing in an additional $7.03 million. With vfx from Hatch Production, Image Engine Design, Lola Visual Effects, Rodeo FX, Tippett Studio and Wildfire Visual Effects, the supernatural romance has a cume of $279.7 million.

Paramount Pictures' THE LAST AIRBENDER bent another $4.17 million. With vfx from DIVE, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), Kerner Optical, Quantum Creation FX and Svengali Visual Effects, the animated TV series adaptation has rounded up $123.3 million.

PREDATORS closed out the top ten with $2.85 million. With vfx from Hybride Technologies and K.N.B. Effects Group, the Robert Rodriguez reboot has a cume of $46.6 million.

Box office numbers were obtained on boxofficemojo.com.