The US box office charts this weekend were taken over by a pair of bumbling, enthusiastic cops as Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg and director Adam McKay drove The Other Guys to the top spot and knocked the brain-itching former champ Inception down to second place. Ferrell in particular will be happy with the result, as it’s his most successful film for a while, notching up $35.6 million in its first three days.

Chris Nolan won’t be too broken-hearted, though – Inception still managed to do decent business, raking in $18.6 million and placing well ahead of the week’s other wide new entry, Step Up 3D. The third dimension didn’t seem to boost to dance pic, which opened with $15.5 million. The remainder of the top five was made up of Salt, with $11.1 million, and Dinner for Schmucks, which dropped from second place with $10.5 million.

Thanks to Schmucks, the middle of the charts is a Steve Carell-fest, with Despicable Me still showing strong legs, earning $9.4 million for sixth place. Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, meanwhile, sank down one place to seventh with $6.9 million.

Eighth place was filled with Zac Efron weepie Charlie St Cloud, which brought home $4.7 million, ahead of Toy Story 3 in ninth, as the ‘toon finally slid towards the bottom of the top 10 with $3 million added to a running US total of $396.3 million. It's now overtaken Finding Nemo worldwide, fact-fans, to become Pixar's highest-grossing film to date. And finally, in 10th, this year’s plucky indie, The Kids Are All Right, which bounced back up from 12th place to warn $2.6 million. It now has $14 million in the bank – not bad for a budget of around $4 million…