What do Will Ferrell and Edith Piaf have in Common? They're the only two who can interrupt Inception 's dreamy run -- at least so it appears to box-office analysts. They're predicting that The Other Guys , in which Ferrell is teamed with Mark Wahlberg as mismatched cops, will open with about $25-30 million, while Inception , in which a Piaf recording plays a salient role as both a plot device and a soundtrack theme, should drop to around $15-20 million in its fourth week after three weeks in the lead. The box-office gurus cite recent surveys indicating that interest in the movie is particularly high among young men, who remain the principal decision makers when it comes to what movies to see on a weekend date. Ferrell's movies have had a wildly inconsistent record in recent years. 2006's Talladega Nights opened with $47 million, Ferrell's best; 2007's Semi-Pro opened with just $18.8 million, a flop; 2008's Step Brothers , opened with $30.9 million, a hit; last year's Land of the Lost opened with only $15.1 million, a devastating bomb (that went on to earn less than $50 million, about half what it cost to produce). The only other film opening wide this weekend is Step Up 3D , which forecasters say should earn only around $10-15 million, a dismal figure that includes anticipated revenue from 3D surcharges.

06/08/2010