Inception: #1 at the box office!

It was close, but not close enough. Leonardo Dicaprio established who the true superstar is against Angelina Jolie’s ‘Salt’.

“Inception” remained the No. 1 movie for the second-straight weekend with $43.5 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. Sony’s spy caper “Salt” premiered a solid No. 2 with $36.5 million. The movie stars Jolie as a CIA operative who goes rogue after she’s accused of being a Russian sleeper agent.

Coming in at No. 3 with $24.1 million was Steve Carell’s family hit “Despicable Me.” The animated comedy raised its domestic total to $161.7 million.

The weekend’s other new wide release, 20th Century Fox’s family comedy “Ramona and Beezus,” took in $8 million to finish at No. 6. The movie is based on Beverly Cleary’s children’s books about a teenage girl and her accident-prone little sister.

“Inception” hung in strongly in its second weekend, its total down just 31 percent from its $62.8 million opening. During the busy summer, top hits often drop 50 percent or more in the second weekend and rarely repeat as the No. 1 movie.

The film will quickly shoot past the $200 million mark at the domestic box office and has a good shot at topping $300 million, said Dan Fellman, head of distribution at Warner Bros.

The ticket sales are estimates for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released today.