BOX OFFICE RESULTS FOR THE WEEKEND OF MARCH 5-7
Movie goers spent the weekend in wonderland with Johnny Depp as Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland opened to huge numbers. Wonderland took in almost double the amount of the nine other films in the top 10 combined. Brooklyn’s Finest also had a solid debut coming in second for the weekend. Take a look.
Alice in Wonderland opened to a jaw dropping $116.1M surging ahead of my $88M prediction which was actually higher than most other analyst’s forecasts which mostly ranged from $65M-$70M. The film broke a few records along the way. First it was the biggest opening ever for a 3-D film, besting Avatar’s $77M haul back in December. Wonderland is also had the biggest debut weekend during the month of March. Here’s a look at the top 5.
|
RANK
|
RELEASE DATE
|
TITLE
|
OPENING
|
|
1
|
3/5/10
|
Alice in Wonderland
|
$116.1M
|
|
2
|
3/9/07
|
300
|
$70.9M
|
|
3
|
3/31/06
|
Ice Age: The Meltdown
|
$68.0M
|
|
4
|
3/27/09
|
Monsters vs. Aliens
|
$59.3M
|
|
5
|
3/6/09
|
Watchmen
|
$55.2M
|
Alice was also the biggest opening weekend for an IMAX film, collecting $11.9M on 188 screens beating Avatar’s $9.5M on 178 screens. This was also the biggest opening weekend for a non-sequel. The previous record was held by 2002’s Spider-Man which webbed up $114.8M. To be fair though, Alice had the benefit of higher ticket prices due to inflation, 3-D showings and IMAX, something the friendly neighborhood web-slinger didn’t have in comparison. Wonderland also had the biggest opening weekend of the year so far, but that will be short lived with Iron Man 2 blasting into theatres on May 7th. This was also the sixth largest opening weekend in box office history. Take a look.
|
RANK
|
RELEASE DATE
|
TITLE
|
OPENING WEEKEND
|
|
1
|
7/18/08
|
The Dark Knight
|
$158.4M
|
|
2
|
5/4/07
|
Spider-Man 3
|
$151.1M
|
|
3
|
11/20/09
|
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
|
$142.8M
|
|
4
|
7/7/06
|
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
|
$135.6M
|
|
5
|
5/18/07
|
Shrek the Third
|
$121.6M
|
|
6
|
3/5/10
|
Alice in Wonderland
|
$116.1M
|
|
7
|
5/3/02
|
Spider-Man
|
$114.8M
|
|
8
|
5/25/07
|
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
|
$114.7M
|
|
9
|
6/26/09
|
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
|
$108.9M
|
|
10
|
5/20/05
|
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
|
$108.4M
|
Wonderland should hold up well over the next few weekends but will lose a good deal of its 3-D screens and IMAX screens in its fourth weekend when Dreamworks’ How to Train Your Dragon opens. Look for the film to collect about $280M during the Popcorn Period*.
Brooklyn’s Finest from director Antoine Fuqua opened to a solid $13.4M, despite mostly tepid reviews from critics. The film features Richard Gere, Ethan Hawke, Don Cheadle and Wesley Snipes and was a solid draw for more serious minded adults who had no desire to visit Wonderland. The film should collect between $35M-$40M during the Popcorn Period.
To see how the rest of the top 10 shaped up and how my other predictions for the weekend fared, check out the chart below.
Be sure to come back Thursday for my predictions for this weekend’s new releases Green Zone, Remember Me, Our Family Wedding and She’s Out of My League.
Follow me on
Twitter for box office updates throughout the week.
|
RANK
|
TITLE
|
MARCH
5-7
|
FEBRUARY 26-28
|
% CHANGE
|
# OF THEATRES/
AVERAGE
|
# OF WEEKS
|
TOTAL
|
BILL SAID
|
|
1
|
Alice in Wonderland
|
$116.1M
|
New
|
New
|
3728
$31.1K per screen
|
1
|
$116.1M
|
$88.0M
|
|
2
|
Brooklyn’s Finest
|
$13.4M
|
New
|
New
|
1936
$6.9K per screen
|
1
|
$13.4M
|
$12.0M
|
|
3
|
Shutter Island
|
$13.2M
|
$22.7M
|
-42%
|
3178
$4.2K per screen
|
3
|
$95.8M
|
$12.5M
-45%
|
|
4
|
Cop Out
|
$9.3M
|
$18.2M
|
-49%
|
3150
$2.9K per screen
|
2
|
$32.5M
|
$8.4M
-54%
|
|
5
|
Avatar
|
$8.1M
|
$13.7M
|
-41%
|
2163
$3.8K per screen
|
12
|
$720.6M
|
$7.9M
-42%
|
|
6
|
The Crazies
|
$7.1M
|
$16.1M
|
-56%
|
2479
$2.9K per screen
|
2
|
$27.5M
|
$6.7M
-58%
|
|
7
|
Percy Jackson & the Olympians
|
$5.1M
|
$9.6M
|
-47%
|
2994
$1.7K per screen
|
4
|
$78.1M
|
$5.3M
-45%
|
|
8
|
Valentine’s Day
|
$4.2M
|
$9.1M
|
-54%
|
3040
$1.4K per screen
|
4
|
$106.3M
|
$4.5M
-50%
|
|
9
|
Crazy Heart
|
$3.3M
|
$2.5M
|
+35%
|
1274
$2.6K per screen
|
12
|
$29.5M
|
$2.7M
+10%
|
|
10
|
Dear John
|
$2.8M
|
$4.8M
|
-42%
|
2496
$1.1K per screen
|
5
|
$76.6M
|
$2.9M
-40%
|
*The Popcorn Period – The settlement date for all movie contracts takes place approximately four weeks after a film has been released in theatres. It is during these 4 weeks that a film will collect money at the box office. If a film makes $50M at the box office during these 4 weeks, the contract will cash out at $50. I refer to this time frame as the Popcorn Period.