Jamaicans get ready for Alice tomorrow

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

ALICE In Wonderland will open in Jamaica tomorrow and comes off a US$62 million second weekend in the US.

Johnny Depp and Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland easily remained the Number 1 weekend draw with $62 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. The Disney fantasy has climbed to a $208.6 million total in the US, 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 top-grossing 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 autside of the US 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 Matt Damon's Iraq War thriller Green Zone, which debuted at No 2 with $14.5 million domestically. Released by Universal, Green Zone stars Damon as the leader of a US Army team who stumbles onto a conspiracy over the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

"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."

Hollywood's business soared, with overall revenues at $144 million, up 43 per cent 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 nine per cent compared to 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 per cent ahead of 2009's, according to Hollywood.com. Before Alice in Wonderland opened, attendance was lagging slightly behind last year's.

"In just a couple of weeks, Alice has turned the entire marketplace around almost single-handedly," Dergarabedian said.

James Cameron's science-fiction sensation remained a strong draw after nearly three months in theatres, taking in $6.6 million to raise its US market total to $730.3 million. The 20th Century Fox release has topped $2.6 billion worldwide.

Summit Entertainment's The Hurt Locker, which beat Avatar for best picture at the Academy Awards, got a slight box-office bump from its Oscar triumph. The Iraq War drama, which is out on DVD but came back to theatres for Oscar season, pulled in $828,000, raising its box-office total to $15.7 million.

Twilight's Robert Pattinson stars in the love saga Remeber Me that also opens tomorrow at the cinemas.

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Jamaicans get ready for Alice tomorrow