'Alice in Wonderland' Tops $1 Billion Worldwide

Nobody saw it working out this way, but Alice in Wonderland has achieved what only five other films can claim - It's made a billion dollars. There's no doubt 3-D helped it reach this goal, but that's true of Avatar, too. In fact, I wonder what Avatar would have made with equally priced tickets. However, I think when you compare it to The Dark Knight, you'd still have to give Alice the nod. After all, Alice has reached a billion in one-fourth the time. How did it ever outperform The Dark Knight, which set all those records a couple years ago? The answer is the international box office, which in the 20-odd months since the Batman movie, has become an increasingly important component of the equation. Whereas Dark Knight was about a 50/50 split, Alice, which has made $332 million in the states, has doubled that total overseas. Think about it: Titanic, Avatar, Ice Age 3, and Return of the King are the only movies to make more in foreign markets. Two of those came out in the past twelve months. So now, we're going to be looking at steroid numbers. It just won't be an easy comparison anymore because the big studios are figuring out not only how to make money overseas but how rely on that money more and more, meaning the US figure, while certainly not becoming obsolete, is no longer the make-or-break number. The two Dan Brown movies and Ice Age prove it, and Robin Hood might be the truest test, because it won't come close to turning a profit based solely on American receipts. And this also validates what I've been predicting since CBS was foolish enough to put me on the radio every week: The summer movie season will be a misnomer in just a couple years. If you can release a $300 million/$1 billion movie in early March, that becomes, for all practical purposes, the new beginning of summer, which will continue to run through Labor Day. Then it's awards season for five months. You'll still have those dead spots, but they'll get shorter and shorter, too.

Comments

[Jezza]

"How did Alice ever out perform The Dark Knight?" Easy, nothing dared to counterprogram it.

The Dark Knight had counterprograming competition from Mamma Mia around the globe.

Females conquer the multiplexes in recent years.
Recent hits like Valentines Day, The Proposal, Twilight, Enchanted, The Ugly Truth, Juno, Sex and the City, Hairspray, High School Musical 3, 27 Dresses, The Holiday, Julie & Julia, Mamma Mia, The Princess and the Frog, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, The Blind Side, Four Christmases and It's Complicated were all driven to sucess by female business (in some cases males weren't needed). Alice in Wonderland seems to be another one of these "female driven" hits.