Alice in Wonderland stars Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter
A teenage girl, a talking cat, a mad queen with a huge forehead, and a mascara-covered Johnny Depp are supposed to do to Pandora's Na'vi what Avatar's well-armed humans, Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese, Julia Roberts, Anne Hathaway, Bradley Cooper and all the other Valentine's Day stars, and the back-and-forth love letters in Dear John weren't able to do: kick them out. From the 3D/IMAX theaters in the United States and numerous other countries, that is — and consequently from North America's top-five weekend box-office chart. (Though even at mostly 2D theaters, Avatar may prove itself to be quite resilient.)
According to Ben Fritz in the Los Angeles Times blog Hero Complex, Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland is expected to gross anywhere between $75-$90+ million over the weekend. If that truly happens, it could be more than what Avatar made on its debut weekend in mid-December: $77 million. Now, whether Mia Wasikowska's Alice will develop legs as long as those of the Na'vi remains to be seen.
Photo: Disney Enterprises