Box Office: “Alice” Dominates at Box Office Despite Trio of Openers

Box Office

“Alice” Dominates at Box Office Despite Trio of Openers

By our guest blogger, Tim Strain

Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” is a bona fide box office juggernaut, becoming one of the quickest films to pass the $250 million mark in its third weekend atop the charts. It was also a big weekend for independent fair, with Noah Baumbach’s “Greenberg” leading the way with an impressive per-theater average.

“Alice” scored $34 million in 3,739 theaters. It has accumulated $266 million in just 16 days. It had the sixth best third weekend in history, and passed the $250 million mark in 16 days, tying it with “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” for the 11th fastest pace for any film to top the quarter billion mark. While there are a few huge tentpole releases left this year (“Toy Story 3,” “Harry Potter 6” and “Inception” the biggest among them), “Alice” has a chance at being the biggest film all year, quite an accomplishment for an early March release. It passed “Batman” this weekend as the biggest box office success in Burton’s monosyllabic filmography.

Fox’s “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” exceeded expectations by amassing $21.8 million in 3,077 theaters for a second place finish. It barely held off the inept-looking Jennifer Aniston/Gerard Butler vehicle “The Bounty Hunter,” which still took in $21 million despite looking like one of the most pointless films in recent memory. The sooner the headliners realize that they will never really move past “Friends” and “300,” the better. “Repo Man’s” meager $6 million opening in 2,521 theaters makes it an out-and-out bust, and deservedly so. The marketing team at Universal never alluded to it being a mainstream, action-enhanced remake of the 2008 cult hit “Repo: The Genetic Opera.”

“Greenberg” grossed roughly $120,000 in just three theaters, giving it the second best per theater average (PTA) of the year behind “The Ghost Writer’s” $45,752 average four weeks ago. It’s PTA is roughly equivalent to Baumbach’s last movie, the insufferable “Margot at the Wedding.” After three consecutive $100-million movies (“Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian,” “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa,” and “Tropic Thunder”), it is good to see Ben Stiller dabbling in the art house scene. “Greenberg” will expand to 160 theaters in 60 markets on March 26th.

Floria Sigismondi’s Kristen Stewart/Dakota Fanning starring biopic about ‘70s teen band "The Runaways" had a pretty weak opening, grossing $803,000 in 244 theaters for a mediocre $3,291 PTA. It will go wide in April. The MusicBox Films production “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” garnered a respectable $10,000 PTA in 34 theaters. “City Island,” Raymond De Felitta’s festival hit, opened to $35,000 in two theaters, giving it the second best PTA of the weekend behind “Greenberg.”

“The Ghost Writer” successfully expanded to wide release, making another $2 million in 819 theaters to give it a $7 million total. It, “”She’s Out of My League,” and “Shutter Island” were the only films to suffer acceptable drops. “Green Zone” dropped 58 percent and is officially a bomb, making 2010 a terrible year for Universal thus far, as its other big budget actioner, “The Wolf Man,” also tripped and fell on its face.

In other news, “Avatar” has made a lot of money.

Figures courtesy Box Office Mojo and IndieWire.