Alice Tops Avatar

     Friday night I, along with apparently tens of thousands of viewers, flocked to see Tim Burton's latest release Alice in Wonderland, an Adaptation of Lewis Carol's two works Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. Although I myself, along with other critics, found it rather slow and uneventful, a film of spectacle rather than events, the audience would have you believe otherwise.

     Domestically, the film produced an impressive $116.3 million (estimated) total over its opening weekend, a gross that places it in the 6th spot for all time opening weekends. When we take into account the fact that 70% of its gross can be attributed to 3D, we also find that it's the biggest 3D release ever, no doubt boosted by the audiences reception of Avatar in 3D. Speaking of Avatar (as it seems I'm always doing these days), Alice's records actually broke this all-time worldwide grosser's opening weekend for domestic and worldwide stats, raking in a total of $210 million, actually earning it 14th place in the all-time worldwide opening weekend slot. Alice also broke the record for biggest IMAX opening with $11.9 million, beating Avatar's $9.5 million.
     No doubt Avatar paved the way for such a feat to be possible. There were even talks of not allowing Alice to be released as wide as it was (not allowing it to take as many screens), because Avatar has been doing so well (already over $2.5 billion in just 80 days). Alice in Wonderland's release took 7,400 screens, approximately 2,500 of which were 3D (more than Avatar). So, although the industry and theaters nationwide were worried about removing Avatar from their playlist, Alice in Wonderland proved that it had the gusto to actually do better than Avatar, though it will most likely fizzle as fast as Spider-Man 3.

Weekend Report: Moviegoers Mad about 'Alice'
by Brandon Gray