Anne Hathaway in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland (top); Matt Damon in Paul Greengrass' Green Zone (middle); Tate Ellington, Robert Pattinson in Allen Coulter's Remember Me (bottom)
Alice in Wonderland grossed slightly more than expected this past weekend at the North American box office. Tim Burton’s fantasy-adventure took in an estimated $62.7 million (an impressive $16,822 per screen) according to final figures found at Box Office Mojo.
Alice in Wonderland’s total take to date is $209.3 million — it's the first 2010 release to cross the $200 million mark. The film stars Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Crispin Glover, Matt Lucas, and the voices of Stephen Fry, Barbara Windsor, and Michael Sheen.
Although Alice in Wonderland is doing remarkably well, its weekend-to-weekend decrease was much steeper than Avatar’s, which has generally hovered between 10 and 20 percent. This past weekend, James Cameron's sci-fier landed at the #7 spot with $6.5 million in ticket sales, a 19.6 percent decrease from last week. Total to date: $730.2 million.
At a distant #2, Paul Greengrass' Iraq War thriller Green Zone, in which Matt Damon stars as the leader of a US Army team who uncovers a government conspiracy in Iraq, grossed an underwhelming $14.3 million at 3,003 screens, or $4,765 per screen — slightly less than Sunday's estimates. That’s also several million less than distributor Universal expected. The $100 million Green Zone will turn out to be another Iraq War flop at the domestic box office.
Remember Me, Robert Pattinson’s first try-out as a human being since his Twilight stardom, took in $8 million at 2,212 screens, or a disappointing $3,657 per screen. Remember Me has been plagued by mostly negative reviews, which may help to explain why it opened at the very low end of Summit's already modest expectations. A number of Pattinson fans have showed up at this past weekend's screenings, but not enough of them to give the $16 million romantic drama the initial boost it needed.
In fact, Pattinson's film fell behind both new entry She's Out of My League and Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island, which grossed $8.1 million for a $2,427 average. The crime thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo has now crossed the $100 million mark. Its total take currently stands at $108 million.
Now, although She’s Out of My League, outperformed Remember Me in terms of revenues, its average was lower. The teen comedy starring Jay Baruchel earned $9.7 million at 2,956 screens, or $3,307 per screen. According to Box Office Mojo, She’s Out of My League cost $20 million to produce.
This weekend's other new entry, Our Family Wedding, grossed $7.6 million at 1,605 screens, or a so-so $4,754 per screen. Considering that Our Family Wedding is playing at about half the number of screens reserved for Green Zone, had it been equally successful it should have had a considerably higher per-screen average. Forest Whitaker and America Ferrera topline this tale about an interethnic marriage.
Photos: Alice in Wonderland (Disney Enterprises); Remember Me (Myles Aronowitz / Summit Entertainment); Green Zone (Jasin Boland / Universal)