After three weeks at the top spot, Christopher Nolan's Inception has been dethroned by the Will Ferrell / Mark Wahlberg action comedy, The Other Guys, coming as a surprise to no one.  The other new entrant, Step Up 3D, had the weakest debut among the trilogy in spite of its appearing in the more costly 3D theaters.  The first Step Up, starring a then-relatively unknown Channing Tatum, was a surprise hit, grossing over $114 million worldwide on a $12 million production budget.  2008's Step Up 2: The Streets actually fared better, even with Tatum appearing in just a cameo, amassing almost $150 million globally.  While Step Up 3D only made $5 million less in its opening weekend than the first did, it is audience attendance that truly tells the story here.  A full 81% of its box office came from the more expensive 3D theaters meaning that there was a significant dropoff in audience from the first two movies to this latest, and possibly final, film in the series.

None of last week's three debuts held well in their second weeks.  Dinner for Schmucks proved to be a schlemiel and tumbled almost 56% percent, while Charlie St. Cloud proved to be a one-week wonder and plunged 62%.  In better news, the animated hits Despicable Me and Toy Story 3 continued to do well, with Toy Story closing in on $400 million domestically.

This Friday, three quite different and interesting movies debut.  It would be a surprise if the weekend didn't belong to Julia Roberts and Eat Pray Love, but Scott Pilgrim vs. the World has all the potential of becoming a break out surprise hit.  This is one to keep an eye on as pre-release buzz and a successful promo at the recent San Diego Comic-Con may turn this relatively obsure comic into a dark horse favorite.  The other new release, The Expendables, stars a cast that, quite frankly, Hollywood has found expendable in recent years including Sylvester Stallone and Dolph Lundgren.  Stallone also directed and co-wrote the script.  Not only that, but Arnold Schwarzenegger makes his triumphant return to acting in this action flick.  What more can we say?

 Here are the box office actuals for the weekend of August 6-8, 2010: