PREDICTED WEEKEND BOX OFFICE

After only ten days on the charts the third installment of the phenomenally popular Twilight film series, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, dropped nearly 50% last week to number two thanks to Universal's new animated family film, Despicable Me, which took the top spot with around $60.1 million. But with two highly anticipated new films entering the box office race this week, director Christopher Nolan's long-awaited film Inception and Disney's The Sorcerer's Apprentice starring Nicolas Cage, the successful animated film will have its hands full fighting off the competition.

Predicted to debut at number one this week with an impressive $75.2 million is Inception, the long awaited sci-fi action thriller from director Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight). The film stars an incredible cast of actors including Oscar nominees Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page and Ken Watanabe, Oscar winners Marion Cotillard and Michael Caine, as well as Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, and Lukas Haas. Currently the film has an average rating of a 4.6 on our site. Out of the forty-six people who have rated the film thirty-four have given it five stars while the trailer for the film has had over 43,000 views. Here is what one of our readers had to say about the new film. "Inception is an engrossing and enthralling thriller. This is the kind of film that requires multiple viewings, not just because it creates an entire dream world but because it offers deeper exploration into the mind, a place only Nolan can take you."

Predicted to fall one place back to number two from its debut at number one last week is Universal's animated film Despicable Me. The film, which centers around the world's greatest villain taking on the new challenge of raising three adorable little orphan girls, boasts an all-star cast of comedic voices including Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Kristen Wiig, Will Arnett, Julie Andrews, Danny McBride and Ken Jeong. The film was seen on 3,746 screens last week and earned around $17,295 on each for a total of $60.1 million. Now in just six days of release the film has earned back its initial $69 million production cost with a domestic gross of around $79 million. That's a profit of about $10 million in less than a week and the movie is expected to add an additional $31.5 million to its earnings this weekend.

Predicted to debut at number three this week is Walt Disney Pictures' The Sorcerer's Apprentice, from super-producer Jerry Bruckheimer. The film is an updated version of the famous Mickey Mouse segment from the classic Disney animated film, Fantasia, and stars Nicolas Cage, Jay Baruchel (Tropic Thunder, How To Train Your Dragon), Teresa Palmer (Bedtime Stories), Toby Kebbell (Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time), Alfred Molina (Spider-Man 2) and Monica Bellucci (Shoot 'Em Up). Currently the film has an average rating of a 4.1 on our site. Out of the eighteen people who have rated the film nine have given it five stars while the trailer for the film has had over 20,000 views. Here is what one of our readers had to say about the new film. "Jerry Bruckheimer and Jon Turteltaub 's The Sorcerer's Apprentice is a fun, exciting, and entertaining live action Disney movie, directed by the same director who directed the National Treasure films. It is also the best Nicolas Cage movie since the first National Treasure film. The story of The Sorcerer's Apprentice was very well done, easy to follow and understand, it made sense and didn't cause me to get lost in the plot and story of the movie."

Predicted to slip two places back from last week to number four is The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, which stars Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Dakota Fanning and Bryce Dallas Howard. Last week the film dropped nearly 50% from its debut the previous week and was seen on 4,468 screens, earning about $7,475 on each. The film earned an additional $33.4 million last weekend, bringing it's total gross up to an impressive $237 million in just 12 days of release, which far surpasses it's purported $68 million production cost. The film is predicted to earn an additional $17.6 million this weekend.

Predicted to round off the top five this weekend drop one place from last week to number five is the third chapter of the extremely successful Pixar series, Toy Story 3. The film features the return of Woody, Buzz and all your favorite toys along with an all-star cast of voice actors, which include Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Michael Keaton, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Jodi Benson, Don Rickles, Estelle Harris, Ned Beatty, Timothy Dalton, Jeff Garlin, Kristen Schaal and Whoopi Goldberg. Last week the film dropped nearly 27.3% from the previous week and was seen on 275 less screens, earning about $5,862 on each of its 3,753 screens. The film earned an additional $22 million last weekend, which brought it's total gross to an amazing $340 million in just four weeks of release, which far surpasses it's purported production cost of $200 million. The film is predicted to earn an additional $14.4 million this weekend.

The rest of the top ten films at the box office this weekend are predicted to look like this:

Predicted to fall three places from its debut last week to number six is the long awaited new chapter of the Predator franchise from fan-favorite filmmaker Robert Rodriguez (Spy Kids and Sin City) simply entitled, Predators. The film promises to act as a direct sequel to the Arnold Schwarzenegger classic and stars an impressive cast of actors that includes Oscar winner Adrien Brody (King Kong), Topher Grace (Spider-Man 3), Alice Braga (I Am Legend), Danny Trejo (Grindhouse), Walton Goggins (TV's The Shield) and Oscar Nominee Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix). The film was seen on 2,669 screens last week and earned about $9,479 on each for a weekend total of around $25.3 million. The film's debut was decent but not spectacular earning back more than half of its initial $40 million production cost in its opening weekend. The film is predicted to earn an additional $12.4 million this weekend.

Predicted to fall back one place from last week to number seven is the family comedy Grown Ups about five childhood friends who reunite 30 years later for a vacation with their families staring the comedy "Dream Team" of Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Kevin James, David Spade, and Rob Schneider. Despite dropping 17.0% last week from the previous week and being shown in seventy-one less theaters, the film still managed to earn about $4,564 on each of it's 3,463 screens last week for an additional $15.8 million. That brings the films total to around $110.7 million in just three weeks of release, earning back it's $80 million production cost. The film is predicted to earn an additional $8.9 million this weekend.

Predicted to drop three spots from last week to number eight is M. Night Shyamalan's long awaited adaptation of the popular Nickelodeon animated series, Avatar: The Last Airbender, simply entitled The Last Airbender. The film dropped nearly 60% last week from the previous week, despite adding almost 34 new theaters and the movie earned about $5,354 on each of its 3,203 screens. The film earned an additional $17.1 million last weekend, which brought it's total gross to only around $100 million in just 2 weeks of release, which is still a far cry from earning back its it's purported $150 million production cost. The film is predicted to earn an additional $8.1 million this weekend.

Predicted to fall two spots back from last week to number six is the family comedy Grown Ups about five childhood friends who reunite 30 years later for a vacation with their families staring the comedy "Dream Team" of Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Kevin James, David Spade, and Rob Schneider. Despite dropping 52.8% from its debut week, the film managed to earn about $5,405 on each of it's 3,534 screens last week for an additional $19.1 million. That brings the films total to around $77.6 million in just two weeks of release and the film is predicted to earn an additional $10.2 million this weekend, which should be more than enough to earn back it's $80 million production cost.

Predicted to fall two places back from last week to number nine is the action/comedy Knight and Day about an ordinary girl who unintentionally gets involved with a secret agent, featuring super star actors Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz in the leading roles. Last week the film dropped 26.1% from the previous week and despite being shown in four hundred and seventy-six less theaters still earned $2,937 on each of it's 2,628 screens. The film managed to earn an additional $7.7 million last weekend, which brings it's total to only $61.8 million in three weeks of release. Unfortunately, that is still a far cry from its $117 million production cost. The film is predicted to earn an additional $4.6 million this weekend.

Finally, predicted to fall two places from last week to number ten is the re-make of the classic Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita underdog story The Karate Kid. The film moves the action from California to China and stars Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan in the lead roles. The movie was produced by Smith's superstar parents Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith. The film dropped almost 32.9% last week from the previous week and was seen on six hundred and fifty-one less theaters than the week before but the film still managed to make around $2,183 on each of its 2,458 screens, earning an additional $5.3 million for the weekend. The movie has now made an impressive $164 million in just five weeks of release, far surpassing its $40 million production cost. It's estimated to earn an additional $3.4 million this weekend. Be sure to check out Box Office Beat Down this Sunday to see who is crowned the King of the box office this week and check back here next week for more box office predictions!