“Alice’s” Record Breaking Weekend
So you thought there was nothing left to be broken when it came to this year and box office numbers? Well, just when you thought “Avatar” had done it all, along comes Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” and an opening weekend of an estimated $116.3 million – the highest grossing weekend ever for a spring release.
The 3-D blockbuster starring Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter also rewarded IMAX theaters – which pulled “Avatar” from all its screens in exchange for “Alice” – setting its highest weekend gross ever with $11.9 million in only 188 theaters. If there was a question as to whether or not 3-D was here to stay, it’s now officially been answered. “Avatar” was not an anomaly, but instead a well packaged movie that expanded the marketplace to all those moviegoers that were nonbelievers in the 3-D technology. They tested it out with “Avatar,” were convinced of the stunning visuals, and are now back for more. In fact, IMAX alone sold out every seat they had for the entire weekend resulting in Disney taking in 65% of “Alice’s” earnings in 3-D – pretty amazing.
The rest of the box office followed pretty much as expected with Overture’s R-rated cop drama “Brooklyn’s Finest” grossing an estimated $13.5 million for a second place finish. It’s been eight long years since Wesley Snipes has been in anything resembling a box-office hit and since then, the action-movie mainstay has stumbled into one career downturn after another, mainly a costly series of court battles with the IRS over his alleged refusal to pay taxes.
Finally, Snipes will once again share the screen with actors you’ve heard of (Ethan Hawke, Richard Gere, Don Cheadle) in Antoine Fuqua’s gritty crime flick. The story revolves around three New York police officers over one week. Eddie, a patrolman (Gere), who only has seven days left before he can finally retire and has become so disenchanted with life that he must find some reason each day not to blow his own brains out. Undercover cop Tango (Cheadle) has been on the streets too long, causing him to protect Caz (Snipes), the drug kingpin target he is out to catch. Sal (Hawke) is a narcotics cop who is under tremendous pressure to provide a healthy home for his pregnant wife and two children with the stress from home and the temptation of all that drug money at his job is causing him to jump back and forth from being a good cop to a bad cop.
Next weekend, Matt Damon in “Green Zone” and Robert Pattinson in “Remember Me” will try and challenge “Alice in Wonderland’s” newly crowned box office status. It’s unlikely either will succeed, but check back to see if one can pull the upset.