Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland blew away all expectations by earning a stunning $116.3 million, totally smashing the previous March debut record of $70.9 million set by Zack Snyder’s 300.  Alice earned 70% of its enormous take from its 3-D screens, and its gargantuan debut means that the rush to extra-dimensional filmmaking will pick up even more momentum (see “Green Lantern Movie in 3-D”).

 

The audience for Alice skewed slightly female (55%) and young (54% under 25).   The “Disney” imprimatur helped attract parents and their children, who made up 39% of the audience, but the film also proved attractive to couples, who made up 36% of the crowd.  Alice, which starred Johnny Depp, posted the biggest opening ever for a non-sequel and set an IMAX record, earning $11.9 million from 188 locations thanks to a mind-blowing average of $63,137 per screen.

Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): March 5-7, 2010

 

Film

Wknd Gross

Screens

Avg./Screen

Total Gross

1

Alice in Wonderland

$116,300,000

3,728

$31,196

$116,300,000

2

Brooklyn's Finest

$13,500,000

1,936

$6,973

$13,500,000

3

Shutter Island

$13,300,000

3,178

$4,185

$95,825,000

4

Cop Out

$9,145,000

3,150

$2,903

$32,360,000

5

Avatar

$7,700,000

2,163

$3,560

$720,189,000

6

The Crazies

$7,016,000

2,479

$2,830

$27,409,000

7

Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief

$5,100,000

2,994

$1,703

$78,033,000

8

Valentine's Day

$4,270,000

3,040

$1,405

$106,420,000

9

Crazy Heart

$3,350,000

1,274

$2,630

$29,569,000

10

Dear John

$2,850,000

2,496

$1,142

$76,694,000

 

Second place is still in doubt at this time with a slight edge apparently going to Antoine Fuqua’s cop drama Brooklyn’s Finest, which played well to urban audiences and appears to be a hair’s breath ahead of Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island, which fell just 41% in its third frame.  Kevin Smith’s Cop Out dropped 49.8% and finished fourth with an estimated $9.1 million.  Avatar took its biggest hit yet, a 44% decline resulting from the loss of 3-D and IMAX screens to Alice.  But the resilient science fiction saga still finished fifth and added another $7.7 million to its enormous domestic total, which is now north of $720 million.

 

The wicked smart horror remake The Crazies fell 56% in its second weekend, but still brought in an estimated $7 million and finished sixth, while Percy Jackson and the Olympians slipped by 46.8% and finished seventh with an estimated $5.1 million.

 

Buoyed by Alice’s tremendous debut the weekend box office was up a potent 87% over the same frame last year when Watchmen debuted.