So remind me again - why exactly did Tom Cruise drop out of Salt?

The thriller Cruise was once attached to fired up $36 million over the past three days - nearly $15 million more than Knight and Day did just four weeks ago. (That movie, by the way, just fell out of the Top 10 after only four weeks.) Salt‘s numbers, though, did not match Angelina Jolie’s previous actioners (e.g. Wanted, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Tomb Raider). The Sony film also failed to boot Inception out of first place.

Meanwhile, Ramona and Beezus, the weekend’s only other new wide release, failed to even cross the $10 million mark. But Beverly Cleary lovers shouldn’t feel bad - the adaptation only cost about $15 million to produce.

1. Inception, Warner Bros., $42,725,012 (avg. $11,267)
2. Salt, Sony, $36,011,243 (avg. $9970)
3. Despicable Me, Universal, $23,689,060 (avg. $6580)
4. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Disney, $9,651,495 (avg. $2754)
5. Toy Story 3, Disney, $8,917,512 (avg. $3224)
6. Ramona and Beezus, 20th Century Fox, $7,810,481 (avg. $2873)
7. Grown Ups, Sony, $7,428,742 (avg. $2598)
8. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Summit Entertainment, $7,186,170 (avg. $2303)
9. The Last Airbender, Paramount, $4,217,021 (avg. $1983)
10. Predators, 20th Century Fox, $3,120,656 (avg. $1690)

(You can review last week’s numbers here.)