Mad Depp and ‘Alice’ Break Box Office Records with $116M

March 7th, 2010 ·

Johnny even beats his Pirates’ booty

By Jeffrey Jolson-Colburn

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 3-7-10 — “Alice in Wonderland” found a huge rabbit hole with $116 million in carrots, making it the biggest (non-sequel) pic opening in history.

Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter led the film to the highest-grossing first-quarter film ever. Though Spider-Man 2 opened larger, it was a sequel, as were pictures like the Star Wars sequels. Alice found another $94M in tweedle-dees and tweedle-dums internationally – breaking $200 million as a bow during a busy Oscar week when many folks want to see a nominated film.

Part of the reason is Depp, a great actor yet with this kind of $200M-plus clout? Plus amazing production values. Part of the puzzle is that the film came out on 3-D on a little more than 2,000 screens in the U.S. and Americans have fallen in love with 3-D. The point is it costs more to attend, raising the grosses.

“Brooklyn’s Finest,” earned $13.5 million at 1,936 screens. Pic comes just a week after the studio launched its horror remake “The Crazies,” which grossed $7 million at 2,479 engagements.

Shutter Island is but one boat trip away from the magic $100M mark while Academy Award nominee Avatar is at a record $720M domestic.

That may be a little much for Oscar voters (who actually sent in their ballots two week ago) who like a big film yet their jobs and don’t want to think they could lose them to computer graphics.
Rank. Movie Title (Distributor)
Weekend Gross | Theaters | Total Gross | Week #

1. Alice in Wonderland (2010) (Buena Vista)
$116.3 million | 3,728 | $116.3 million | 1

2. Brooklyn’s Finest (Overture Films)
$13.5 million | 1,936 | $13.5 million | 1

3. Shutter Island (Paramount)
$13.3 million | 3,178 | $95.8 million | 3

4. Cop Out (Warner Bros.)
$9.1 million | 3,150 | $32.4 million | 2

5. Avatar (Fox)
$7.7 million | 2,163 | $720.2 million | 12

s

Sphere: Related Content