Middle Age Hollywood

For a movie sold solely on its movie star, Angelina Jolie's Salt did better than most.

But Inception was still greater. The Christopher Nolan-Leonardo DiCaprio dreamscape stayed atop the weekend box office with an estimated $43.5 million.

Salt settled for second, with a gross that was good—but was it good enough?

Salt earned $36.5 million, on the higher end of expectations. The action flick's debut was bigger than recent star movies from Tom Cruise (Knight and Day) and Matt Damon (The Green Zone), and about even with Russell Crowe's Robin Hood.