Box Office - 'Alice' Eyes All-Time Top Five Weekend

Alice in Wonderland may have just scored the biggest opening day since New Moon and one of the top ten single days in history if the projections are correct: $45 million on Friday. That's an updated number, by the way, from the first indication we received late Friday night of $35 million. It will dwarf the previous March opening day record of $28 million set by 300. What this could mean is our first $100 million weekend in a while, too, and possibly a top five first frame all time. Shrek the Third currently holds the number five spot on that list with $121 million, but for a family movie to put up $45 million on a Friday should lead to a very similar number on Saturday, if not even a little higher, so Alice should at least be flirting with that figure on Sunday. Two notes about this hulking amount of cash: So long as it makes, say, $115 million or so, Alice will give Johnny Depp three of the top seven opening weekends ever. It will easily set a new standard for 3-D films, since it might beat Avatar's first two weekends by $40 million. It goes without saying that this beats everyone's projections of what the film could do, and with this kind of number, it could radically alter the landscape for the immediate future in terms of what other films are able to generate, and it should also put even more films in the 3-D arena as we head into summer. In other less spectacular news, Brooklyn's Finest even looks like it will do better than expected, thanks to a $5 million Friday. That surprises me because when I saw it at midnight Friday, I was the only one there. Regardless, the opening day could put the new cop movie just below $15 million for the weekend, and that's not too shabby for 1,900 theaters, no A-list talent, and a modest amount of advertising. Shutter Island looks to fall to third place after a $4 million Friday, so clearly nothing below that on the list made much of a dent on Friday. Regarding Avatar, which had a last gasp on Thursday to actually reclaim the top spot at the box office, the lost 3-D screens really hurt. It dropped to 7th place on Friday with just over $1 million.

Comments

[Vince]

Not that surprised at Alice owning, actually. I went to the 10:30 pm showing last night and it was completely sold out. I saw maybe about 40% families (children & parents) in the audience, the rest were all tween or teenagers (Edward Cullen's favorite demographic, if i may say so myself).

Brooklyn's Finest I'm shocked at however. I saw absolutely no trailers or any real ads for the movie until Wednesday, plus that title and poster looked super-generic and throwaway. I guess people are hurting for their Don Cheadle fix, huh? Good for Overture however- another much needed (if minor) hit for the studio.

[Will]

Some friends of mine were trying to get tickets at AZ Mills Imax earlier today, and it was sold out through the 1AM screening.

It looks like Disney is going to have an AWESOME year. I had better call my broker.