Alice in Wonderland keeps growing

LOS ANGELES — Alice is still ruling the movie palace.

Johnny Depp and Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland easily remained the top weekend draw with $62.7 million, according to studio estimates. The Disney fantasy has climbed to a $209 million total domestically, becoming the first $200 million hit released this year.

In its second weekend in theaters, Alice in Wonderland pulled ahead of the $206.5 million domestic haul of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to become the topgrossing of Depp and Burton’s seven films together, which include Edward Scissorhands, Sweeney Todd and Corpse Bride.

“I believe it’s literally the magical, if you would, pairing of Tim and Johnny,” said Chuck Viane, head of distribution for Disney. “When you take those two, they always seem to make something really out of the ordinary.”

Alice in Wonderland added $76 million overseas to bring its international total to $221 million and its worldwide gross to $430 million.

A rush of new movies had so-so openings, led by MattDamon’s Iraq war thriller Green Zone, which debuted in second place, making more than $14 million domestically. Released by Universal, Green Zone stars Damon as the leader of a U.S. Army team who stumbles onto a conspiracy over the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Paramount’s romantic comedy She’s Out of My League debuted in third with $9.7 million. The movie stars Jay Baruchel as a geek in an unlikely romance with a babe.

In its fourth weekend,Paramount’s Shutter Island, the latest collaboration between Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese, was fourth with $8.1 million, raising its domestic total to $108 million.

Twilight star Robert Pattinson’s romantic drama Remember Me opened in fifth place with about $8 million in box-office sales. The Summit Entertainment release stars Pattinson and Lost costar Emilie de Ravin in a dark story of young lovers with tragedy in their past.

With $7.6 million in sales for sixth place was FoxSearchlight’s comedy Our Family Wedding, starring America Ferrera as a Hispanic bride marrying a black man.

Alice in Wonderland took in nearly as much as the rest of the top-10 movies combined.

“It’s like this great divide between the No. 1 and 2 films, which says that without Alice in Wonderland in the marketplace, we’d be hurting right now,” said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com. “By itself, it’s really propelling huge box office.”

With overall revenues at $144 million, Hollywood’s business soared 43 percent from the same weekend last year, when Race to Witch Mountain led with a $24.4 million debut.

For the year, revenues are at $2.24 billion, up 9 percent compared with receipts last year, when Hollywood took in a record $10.6 billion.

Factoring in higher admission prices, movie attendance this year is running 6.7 percent ahead of 2009’s, according to Hollywood.com. Before Alice in Wonderland opened, attendance was lagging slightly behind last year’s.

BOX OFFICEThe top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Hollywood.com are: 1. Alice in Wonderland, Disney, $62,714,076, 3,728 locations, $16,822 average, $209,339,432, two weeks.

2. Green Zone, Universal, $14,309,295, 3,003 locations, $4,765 average, $14,309,295, one week.

3. She’s Out of My League, Paramount, $9,775,278, 2,956 locations, $3,307 average, $9,775,278, one week.

4. Shutter Island, Paramount, $8,144,133, 3,356 locations, $2,427 average, $108,011,645, four weeks.

5. Remember Me, Summit, $8,089,139, 2,212 locations, $3,657 average, $8,089,139, one week.

6. Our Family Wedding, Fox Searchlight, $7,629,862, 1,605 locations, $4,754 average, $7,629,862, one week.

7. Avatar, Fox, $6,526,421, 1,718 locations, $3,799 average, $730,270,443, 13 weeks.

8. Brooklyn’s Finest, Overture,$4,471,932, 1,939 locations, $2,306 average, $21,533,404, two weeks.

9. Cop Out, Warner Bros., $4,268,068, 2,882 locations, $1,481 average, $39,480,734, three weeks.

10. The Crazies, Overture,$3,680,940, 2,359 locations, $1,560 average, $33,389,308, three weeks.

11. Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, Fox, $3,077,631, 2,175 locations, $1,415 average, $82,270,631, five weeks.

12.Crazy Heart, Fox Searchlight, $3,005,547, 1,361 locations, $2,208 average, $34,083,652, 13 weeks.

13.The Blind Side, Warner Bros., $1,604,096, 803 locations, $1,998 average, $252,736,267, 17 weeks.

14. Valentine’s Day, Warner Bros., $1,449,339, 1,703 locations, $851 average, $108,892,926, five weeks.

15. The Ghost Writer, Summit, $1,225,084, 224 locations, $5,469 average, $4,264,077, four weeks.

16. Dear John, Sony Screen Gems, $1,021,434, 1,249 locations, $818 average, $78,554,493, six weeks.

17. The Tooth Fairy, Fox, $685,294, 737 locations, $930 average, $57,246,086, eight weeks.

18. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, Fox, $461,580, 408 locations, $1,131 average, $217,963,072, 12 weeks.

19. The Last Station, Sony Pictures Classics, $442,600, 272 locations, $1,627 average, $5,292,337, nine weeks.

20. The Wolfman, Universal, $404,630, 550 locations, $736 average, $61,453,000, five weeks.

MovieStyle, Pages 38 on 03/19/2010

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