In a season that's seen audiences reject formulaic would-be blockbusters, Warner Bros. has a unique challenge -- attracting moviegoers to an intelligent thriller like "Inception."
Needless to say, $200 million movies shot across six countries with thousands of digital effects are not usually set, to borrow a phrase from director Christopher Nolan ("The Dark Knight), "in the architecture of the mind."
But "Inception," due out July 16, "has a real chance of being one of the top five films of the summer," Jeff Bock, a box office analyst with Exhibitor Relations, told TheWrap.
"Following one of the biggest hits Hollywood has ever seen, Christopher Nolan has a gold ticket to do whatever he wants."
Bock admits that in a more crowded summer, such as 2011, which will see the final installment of the Harry Potter franchise and Marvel's "Captain America" and "Thor," Warner's gamble might not pay off. But this season, he says, viewers might be hungry for more challenging fare. 
"Audiences are really interested in seeing big-budget filmmaking on a more cerebral level," Bock said, adding, "Nolan always lives up to audience expectations."
Warner Bros. declined to comment on its marketing strategy for this article.
"'Inception' stands a very good chance of winning everything," said Drew McWeeny, film editor at Hitfix. "Nobody likes being spoken down to, and there's this steady drip of awful movies from a culture of plagiarism and rehash, so when we reach 'Inception,' it will feel like an incredible oasis."
Still, there aren't a whole lot of blockbusters that have asked audiences to bring their brains. The "Matrix" trilogy may have managed to ride allusions to French theorist Jean Baudrillard to a $1.5 billion worldwide box office gross, but other high-concept movies such as "Artificial Intelligence: AI" and "Public Enemies" have found the summer season less hospitable.
As a hedge, the studio has been heavily touting its two big trump cards -- director Nolan and star Leonardo DiCaprio -- in print and television ads.
Familiarizing audiences with the movie's tightly guarded plot without revealing any of the film's twists is a more difficult proposition.
"It's a tough movie to market, because on the one hand it's full of surprises, and the audiences are savvy these days, because everything can be found out on the Internet," Mike Sampson, editor-in-chief of the film blog JoBlo, told TheWrap. "But you also need to inform more mainstream audiences what the movie is about, so they don't just see Leo and crumbling buildings."
So far, he said, "They've done a good job, but we're entering the home stretch and they'll need to let us know a lot more really soon."
All that audiences know thus far is that the film centers on a group of thieves who engage in corporate espionage by stealing ideas from people's dreams. Most fans expect a third-act reveal, which the studio is keeping under wraps.
The director, seen last week haunting the Warner lot with a do-not-distract me look in his eye, is still completing final touches to the film.
