Matthew Vaughn‘s X-Men: First Class has a lot going for it. The stellar cast includes Alice Eve, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult and Kevin Bacon. Vaughn even spoke with IGN recently saying he is taking a note from J.J. Abrams‘ Star Trek who “made a fantastically exciting reinvention of that world, with those great characters. And I [Vaughn] think there will be comparisons a little bit with X-Men: First Class. It’s very similar, in a way. But we’re doing some cool stuff in this movie, some really cool stuff that you haven’t seen before.” But, as LA Times reports, Vaughn recently saw Christopher Nolan‘s Inception and some of that “really cool stuff” will have to go. Read the full story

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In a clashing of new Hollywood formulas versus old Hollywood formulas, Chris Nolan’s high-concept, narrative-bending Inception dropped a lean 30 percent to $43.5 million while Sony’s star-driven actioner Salt grossed optimistically moderate numbers ($36.5 million). The studio is hoping for a solid holdover, considering the next straight action film to hit theaters is The Expendables on August 13th, Jolie’s face/body and Inception‘s eventual fade out.

Speaking of solid holdovers, Despicable Me has gone from surprise hit to the newest “soon-to-be-very lucrative” animated franchise, dipping only %26.5 to $24.5 million, grossing over $160 million in only 17 days. Toy Story 3 dropped about as much, soon to become Pixar’s first $400 million movie.

Jerry Bruckheimer‘s fourth bomb in a row, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, may just be his worst, tacking on $10 million to make a ridiculously unimpressive $42 million gross in 10 days.

In the limited market, The Kids Are All Right has officially established itself as an indie darling, picking up where Cyrus is leaving off. It’s great to see an off-beat talent like Lisa Cholodenko (High Art, Laurel Canyon) with some recognition. In other wide release news, Ramona and Beezus grossed a “just fine” $8 million off of a $15 million budget and next-to-no print and advertising.

Check out the top 10 (weekend-total; gross):

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Alright, alright, alright, alright. I’m sick of the rumors of The Riddler being the villain in Batman 3, just like you are (or should be). So, that’s why you should take this news story with a dose of salt (WHO IS SALT?!), but we’re going to report it, so here goes. Read the full story

He said it before and he will damn well say it again. Christopher Nolan‘s director of photography Wally Pfister (a big part of Inception‘s beautiful look) spoke to MTV and confirmed his goal of shooting Batman 3 entirely with IMAX cameras. Remember the opening scene of The Dark Knight? Imagine if every single frame of Batman 3 looked like that. As for the film he said: Read the full story

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As Inception warped our minds and showed us a new generation of sci-fi, Christopher Nolan has admitted to “plundering cinematic history” and using many references while creating his latest film. The films on list below are not only heavily referenced in Inception, but our favorite cerebral sci-fi films.  Read the full story

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It’s frightening how much Inception asks from its audience. In a blockbuster summer of paint-by-numbers Christopher Nolan has crafted a superb heist tale, elevated to the nth degree due to its wildly absorbing concept. Read the full story

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Inception is the most anticipated film of the summer. Director Christopher Nolan, the man who brought us The Dark Knight, The Prestige and Memento, has put together an all-star cast for his latest outing. The hype for the film has been extensive and Inception is something people have been talking about for a very long time.

Almost every early review has been positive and the people who’ve already seen the film can’t stop talking about it. With this the hype continues to grow, as does the fear that Nolan’s film will have too much to live up to. Read the full story

E-mail Matt Tyler and be sure to follow him on Twitter. You can also interact with him on our Facebook page!

In this episode of the The Film Stage podcast Jordan Raup and Dan Mecca review Christopher Nolan’s Inception. The first half we discuss without any spoilers then, after a warning, we open up the discussion. Check it out below. Read the full story

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Word on the street (remember that said word could, in fact, be unsubstantiated and untrue) is that director Chris Columbus (Home Alone, Mrs. Doubtfire, the first two Harry Potter films, I Love You, Beth Cooper) has been offered the chance to direct The Man of Steel, the next Superman film, written by David S. Goyer and produced by Christopher Nolan. [Pajiba]

Why, you ask? Because Warner Bros. thinks he’s “the right fit” and is planning “the 3D Superman reboot for December 2012. “[Supermanhomepage] Apparently Goyer wanted to direct but the studio recalled that he directed The Invisible and The Unborn, and said no. In all fairness, Columbus would fair better than Goyer most likely.

That said, is Columbus really the right fit? Is there no better option? It’s not as though Columbus is some cheap newcomer (a la Spielberg with Jaws) or a reliable semi-retiree (like, I don’t know, Richard Donner!). There has to be someone in the man’s price range who’s a bit more creative. A filmmaker as bland as the superhero is the kiss of death.

Could Columbus make Superman fly again?

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The most anticipated film of the summer, Inception has recently screened in a few different venues. Most notably Cinema Expo in Amsterdam. Peter Travers from Rolling Stones also saw the film and someone was able to find an excerpt of his review from July’s Rolling Stone issue (via Nolan Fans). Check that out below and then the rest. Collider has also provided us with brand new photos and posters from the film. I mixed in some of my favorites below, but check the rest over at their site. Read the full story

E-mail Jordan Raup here. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook for the latest TFS updates!