Who's The Better Action Star: Tom Cruise Or Angelina Jolie?

Angelina Jolie is surely the reigning action queen - after all, Salt opened this past weekend and raked in $36.5 million at the domestic box office!

That being said, it still didn't beat Inception, which held its place at number one for the second week in a row with $43.5 million.

So does this mean Angelina Jolie has replaced Tom Cruise as Hollywood's favorite action star? Salt was originally supposed to star Cruise, but was rewritten for Jolie in particular. "She's not a female action star; she's an action star," explained producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura. "She's really the first female to transcend gender."

And is she worth the $20 million paycheck she received for the part? It's not as if this is the first successful action movie for the actress - Tomb Raider, Mr. & Mrs. Smith and Wanted (to name a few) came first! But like Bonaventura said, Jolie is breaking gender barriers. Even the Alien series began with an ensemble cast, not a one woman show starring Sigourney Weaver.

Meanwhile, Tom Cruise also had a flick open this summer... Knight and Day. It had the benefit of co-starring Cameron Diaz as well and still only earned $20 million its opening weekend. Guess we'll have to wait for box office totals, domestic and overseas, to see if Jolie comes out on top!