| Film | Weekend | Per Screen | Total | |
| 1 | Alice in Wonderland | $116,300,000 | $31,196 | $116,300,000 |
| 2 | Brooklyn’s Finest | $13,500,000 | $6,973 | $13,500,000 |
| 3 | Shutter Island | $13,300,000 (-41.3%) | $4,185 | $95,825,000 |
| 4 | Cop Out | $9,145,000 (-49.8%) | $2,903 | $32,360,000 |
| 5 | Avatar | $7,700,000 (-43.6%) | $3,560 | $720,189,000 |
| 6 | The Crazies | $7,016,000 (-56.3%) | $2,830 | $27,409,000 |
| 7 | Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief | $5,100,000 (-46.8%) | $1,703 | $78,033,000 |
| 8 | Valentine’s Day | $4,270,000 (-52.9%) | $1,405 | $106,420,000 |
| 9 | Crazy Heart | $3,350,000 (+36.0%) | $2,630 | $29,569,000 |
| 10 | Dear John | $2,850,000 (-40.7%) | $1,142 | $76,694,000 |
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I had heard that Alice might do $80 two weeks ago, and there was some hints it could do over $100. But whatever the thoughts on Alice in Wonderland as an artistic accomplishment, holy shit that opened. It will be interesting to see where it goes from here, as next week’s fall off should be precipitous, but even with a 70% drop, that still means it will be at over $150 by the end of next weekend. And that would be the absolute worst case scenario. More likely it will stay at #1 with a $50-$60 Million weekend, and crest over $200 without much effort. This was well sold, and though it’s hard to finger exactly why this did what it did, likely it’s the combination of 3-D, Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, good ads, interest for girls, and enough action and stuff for boys. There was just enough of everything, plus inflated ticket prices, to launch this into the strata. I don’t think it gets to $300, as this is likely very front loaded, but regardless, this is a huge win. I doubt it changes its video release date, though, and it’s already done $94 Million internationally. This should be Burton’s biggest movie ever, save for inflation, if it does more than $251 Million domestic – at this point it all depends on the masses, and if they liked it or not.
Brooklyn’s Finest opened well enough, so it should get to $30. With such a low cost of production, likely it will do all right. Shutter Island should cross the hundred Million dollar mark by Friday at the latest. $132 is Scorsese’s record, and that’s out of reach. Cop Out could get to $50 Million, but that’s the stopping point. Smith’s ceiling has been broken, but the victory isn’t all that awesome if this cost that much more than most of his films. If you spend less than $10 Million and make $30, that’s a sound business in comparison to spending $37 Million and making $50. Avatar crossed $720 Million, so hopefully Jame Cameron can live with that if he doesn’t win much this evening. It didn’t lose as many screens as was feared, so it didn’t drop drop drop, but it will likely have to wrap up for Clash of the Titans in a month. The Crazies didn’t dive bomb, but it’ll need a little help to do anything more or less than $40 Million.
Next week, we’re getting some theater clearing titles with four wide releases. Say good night Dear John.