By Esmé E. Deprez March 7 (Bloomberg) — “Alice in Wonderland,” the classic Lewis Carroll tale re-imagined in 3-D by director Tim Burton , made $116.3 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales for Walt Disney Co. this weekend, the sixth-biggest opening ever. The movie also set records for the best March debut and the largest opening weekend of the year, according to Hollywood.com Box-Office . “Alice” is the first film ever to cross the $100 million mark in the January-to-March period. “Alice,” which stars Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, opened in 3,728 domestic theaters with 2,063 3-D screens and on an additional 188 in Imax 3-D, according to Hollywood.com. Movie studios are turning to 3-D films to bolster attendance and ticket sales following the record box-office success of “Avatar,” James Cameron’s 3-D epic. Cinemas on average charge about $3 more per ticket for a 3-D film. Hollywood.com said “Alice” also is the biggest 3-D film opening ever, as well as the largest in Imax history ($11.9 million). Worldwide, the movie made $210.3 million, the box-officer tracker said. Cinema operators in the U.K., Belgium and the Netherlands agreed to show “Alice,” calling off a threatened boycott after Disney proposed reducing the period before the DVD release to 12 weeks from the customary 17 weeks. The theater owners said the shorter period would reduce profit following expensive upgrades to digital projectors. ‘Shutter Island’ “Brooklyn’s Finest” opened in second place with $13.5 million for Overture Films. The action film was written by Michael C. Martin, a former New York City subway worker. The R- rated drama follows the lives of three cops, played by Richard Gere , Don Cheadle and Ethan Hawke , and a drug dealer portrayed by Wesley Snipes . “Shutter Island,” last week’s No. 1 film, fell to third with sales of $13.3 for Viacom Inc.’s Paramount Pictures. The movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a detective investigating an insane asylum, and has taken in $95.8 million since its March 4 release. To contact the reporter on this story: Esmé E. Deprez in New York at edeprez@bloomberg.net
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`Alice in Wonderland’ Takes In $116.3 Million in Record-Setting Weekend
