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Do cats and dogs dream? Do schmucks? Does Zac Effron? I’m thinking that latter question is a big, fat “NO.” What could he possibly dream about? He’s living it. I guess one thing he might dream about is for his newest film to beat out Inception at the box office this weekend. For that matter, the cats, dogs, and schmucks are probably dreaming the same thing. Doesn’t mean it’s going to come true. In fact, all the dreaming in the world probably won’t make that a reality.

BIG HITTERS

The legion of new entries into the mainstream film market this weekend begins with a sequel to a nine-year-old film. Evidently, the time and care put into making of Cats & Dogs: Revenge of Kitty Galore is ample, maybe even excessive. Of course, the film finds itself released now in late July, 2010, when the market is inundated with children’s movies. The children who fell in love with Cats & Dogs in 2001 are now cynical teens who will certainly be lancing the film like a large boil, and young kids, the ones this film is geared towards, probably won’t have even seen the predecessor.

There are a number of aspects working against Cats & Dogs 2, but the continued interest in talking animals (those not named Marmaduke, anyway) and the film’s high screen count (3705 screens, more than any other film this weekend) might be enough to give it a decent opening.

You like cats. You like dogs. You like revenge. You like galore. Watch the trailer for Cats & Dogs: Revenge of Kitty Galore right here:

The big selling point behind Dinner for Schmucks is the pairing of Steve Carell and Paul Rudd, emphasis on Carell. Carell does well in the Summer months, especially when looking at opening weekends. Evan Almighty, generally thought of as a box office failure, even broke to a $31.1-million weekend. In fact, the worst opening Carell has had with a Summer, tentpole project was 40-Year-Old Virgin. Even that opened to $21.4 million in 2005.

Jay Roach, who has had consistent hit after hit for the past decade, might drive up the film’s opening numbers, as well. Granted, that only accounts for three films (two Meet the Parents films at $28.6 million and $46.1 million on opening weekends, respectively, and an Austin Powers with a $73-million opening), but Roach’s touch on them is undeniable. The Galifianakis factor isn’t going to hurt, either. With Grown Ups‘ screen count dissipating, comedy audiences will be looking for something to make them laugh, and the thought of mouse-terpieces and monkeys eating paper might just be enough to draw them in.

To see Steve Carell put eggs into Zach Galifianakis’ brain, check out the trailer for Dinner for Schmucks right here:

There seems to be a missed opportunity in the amount of marketing behind Charlie St. Cloud, the new film starring Zac Efron. By all accounts, the film should be looking forward to a $30-35-million opening weekend. The momentum just isn’t there. As it stands, the film will be lucky to break into the upper $15-20-million tier. This despite the growing popularity of Efron as well as the success of like romantic-dramas. It boils down to Charlie St. Cloud being released at an odd time of year. A late September release would have been more suitable and probably would have helped get the film the $30-million+ opening it’s not going to get this weekend.

Stare into Zac Efron’s baby blue eyes. Watch him watching a ghost of his kid brother. It’s kind of creepy:

FAMILIARITIES

Two weekends out and the buzz-powered engine that is Christopher Nolan’s Inception looks to continue its dominance this weekend. Even with three new films that all seem aimed towards the more casual viewer, the mind-twisting headache brought on from trying to sort out Nolan’s film is just too tantalizing. That coupled with the impressive 32% drop in Inception‘s second weekend makes it fairly evident it has another highly successful weekend ahead of it. This third weekend drop may be a bit larger than last weekend’s, but the bottom hasn’t dropped out of the Inception glass just yet. People going back in for a second or even third viewing will be out in force.

While nothing seems likely to have a larger than normal drop this weekend, expect Despicable Me, Toy Story 3, and Grown Ups to have smaller drops than we’re accustomed to. This has been the norm for each of these films, and nothing, not even the releasing of films in their similar genres, makes us think this weekend will be much different.

LITTLE OPENERS

A large number of independent films get their limited releases this weekend, much of them coming straight out of Sundance. First up is the Robert Duvall and Bill Murray-starring Get Low. Landon Palmer, in his SXSW review, explains “the film doesn’t say much in and of itself”, and Robert Levin says the film “celebrates the peaceful finality of a soul at rest and the rewards one might find in preparing for the end, when it arrives” in his Tribeca review. You can decide for yourself, as it opens in New York and L.A.

See Robert Duvall throw himself a party, shotguns and grumpy rednecks included,  with the Get Low trailer right here:

Another narrative film first seen at Sundance getting released this weekend is The Extra Man starring Kevin Kline and Paul Dano. It isn’t riding a high wave at Rotten Tomatoes and currently has a 44% fresh rating, 40% among the five top critics who have reviewed it. Nonetheless, the film can be viewed on VOD and in New York and L.A. when it opens this weekend.

Find out why Kline’s Henry Harrison prefers Hasidic women (evidently, they really get something) in this trailer for The Extra Man:

The rest of this week’s limited releases are made up of three narratives and three very interesting documentaries that are already getting some serious accolades. If you’re into something grounded in reality, Smash His Camera, Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel, and Who Killed Nancy? all open in New York City. On the narrative side, The Dry Land opens in New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas; The Concert opens in Los Angeles; and Helen starring that actress who used to be Ashley Judd opens in New York.

Here’s how the top 10 is shaping up this weekend:

1. Inception - $27.7m (-35%)
2. Dinner For Schmucks - $25m NEW
3. Cats & Dogs: Revenge of Kitty Galore - $21.4m NEW
4. Salt - $19m (-47.2%)
5. Charlie St. Cloud - $15.2m NEW
6. Despicable Me - $14.4m (-38.8%)
7. Toy Story 3 - $5.6m (-36.4%)
8. Grown Ups - $5.1m (-30%)
9. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice - $4.4m (-53.5%)
10. Ramona and Beezus - $4m (-47.5%)

All in all, not a staggering weekend for box office numbers, but we’re getting into the doldrums of Summer, that time of year where things begin to cool off at the cineplexes as the dog days roll on outside. With the numbers above, this coming weekend is looking at $142.1 million, another decrease from the previous weekend. This would mark the third weekend in a row the cumulative box office of the top 10 was less than the previous weekend’s, and only the third time that has happened in 2010.

That stands as a positive for 2010 as a whole. Three studios (Paramount, 20th Century Fox, and Warner Brothers) have already topped the $1-billion mark for the year, and all three find themselves among the top 10 fastest studios to do so in a given calendar year. No other year has had three studios reach this point before the end of the Summer, let alone the end of July. It’s a rare thing to find three studios do this in one year, anyway.

Of course, much will be made of this in regards to the onslaught of 3-D film making. Each of these studios have had major films in release in 2010 that incorporated 3-D in one way or another. A good sign if you’re a fan of the concept, not so much a good sign if you just think it’s a distracting gimmick.

We’ll be back on Sunday to go over the weekend’s numbers.

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