Burton and Depp In Wonderland

Despite the problems with the release date of Alice In Wonderland and the cinemas anger at the projected early DVD release, the Johnny Depp starring and Tim Burton directed children's movie with a twist in eye-popping 3-D shattered the previous March record of 300 by $30m with a wondrous $116m. 70% of that toal came from the 3-D sites and it is Burton's biggest ever opening, so all in all a fantastic success for Disney. It seems as if 3-D is doing exactly what the studios wanted it do...make BIG money. Personally I cannot wait for Clash of the Titans in 3-D, that should be huge!

It is always brave to release a film in the same week against an obvious blockbuster. On the one hand you could get lucky and attract the audience that Alice... won't get or on the flip side you could just bomb and disappear. In fairness to Millennium Films Brooklyn's Finest you can see a market for it; it is by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day and Shooter) and is a gritty police drama in the vein of Pride and Glory or Heat. The only dilemma is that the cast is about as bankable and attractive as Toyota shares right now. Richard Gere looking hopelessly miscast, Ethan Hawke who will always be Training Day and nothing else, Don Cheadle, a quality actor who has never really topped his Boogie Nights role and Wesley Snipes...well Blade has kind of ended so...Anyway the movie made a reasonable $13.4m on 2300 screens which is similar to Street Kings (another movie with a strange cast list). I find it a shame that Fuqua didn't get a better cast because the trailer looks good but the acting looks woeful and the name of the film is awful. A $25m budget should be recouped though so perhaps his next project will be a touch more exciting.

After two weeks on top Scorsese's latest fell to No3 but only just. $13.2m ($95.8m) for Shutter Island is a decent take for the Di Caprio starrer and I look forward to the release of it over here on Friday. Balancing it with Alice, Green Zone and Girl With The Dragon Tattoo should be interesting! It's like buses...

Cop Out copped $9.29m ($32,5m) and looks to be a pretty average total for Willis who apart from Die Hard 4.0 hasn't had a big hit for an extremely long time. Die Hard 5 anyone??!!

Poor Avatar dropped by 41%, its biggest fall yet. Before we grab the hankies though lets remind ourselves that the Cameron monster has made $721m with a 12th week outing of $8.12m. $750m looks certain now and despite the disappointing Oscar performance lets commend a film that was made for the people not awards. Well done Avatar, we love you.

The Crazies fell similarly to Cop Out but nothing drastic. The film's small budget of $12m means that the total of $27.5m ($7.08m) looks positive and demonstrates the power of horror. Cheap and easy to make and very popular with audiences mean that the genre will never die. I hope A Nightmare on Elm Street does die but unfortunately it won't. I lose all faith in cinema when these projects occur, classic horror that doesn't need a remake gets one because studio sees dollar signs the size of jumbo-jets. And what is it lately with the villain getting a sympathetic backstory (Friday The 13th and Halloween) the whole terror with them was the fact that they were just crazy bastards who liked to kill teenage girls...aaaargh!!

Percy Jackson and blah blah made $5.12m ($78.1m) to show the world that awful titles can still gross money. Although the $95m budget seems to hint that the studio expected a little more from the movie...

The wonderful Valentines Day that I love so much weighed in at $106m ($4.15m) that goes to show crap sells. Maybe I'm being harsh. Maybe.

Crazy Heart took $3.31m ($29.5m). I saw this the other day. I was expecting a movie with similarities to The Wrestler and Walk The Line. Well it had good music and it was about a faded artist tearing himself apart. Yet unlike James Magold and Darren Aronofsky, Scott Cooper can't direct or write. A horrible film. So bad it is funny. Alcoholism is treated as an addiction that is like giving up apple juice. Jeff Bridges drinks and smokes for reasons unclear to the audience whilst Maggie Gyllenhaal bemusingly falls for him. She lives in a palatial house despite having a small reporter job. She entrusts her son to a man who she knows is an alcoholic. The movie is just so stupid it is laughable. He hates Colin Farrell (miscast) for no apparent reason. The dialogue is trite, the acting is good but suffers from the shoddy editing and refusal to slow things down. Every time Bridges gets closer to the audience our interest is broken because of pointless scenes with Robert Duvall or bits with Bridges cleaning his house. Bridges winning an Oscar is deserved but not for this, this film should have never the light of day and to watch a film about a man breaking down without any semblance of emotion, realism or interest is a shocking inditement of how bad this movie is. To waste so much talent is criminal, shame on you Scott Cooper.

Dear John completes the top 10 hanging on by a thread to take $76.6m ($2.78m). In other news The Blind Side crossed the $250m mark and looks set to grow with Bullock's Oscar win. Speaking of Oscars I can't remember a film that has won the best picture Oscar in recent times that is available on DVD. I'm really pleased for The Hurt Locker, not just because it is a marvellous film made by a very talented female director and male script writer but also because it was released outside Oscar season. Congrats to Kathryn and Mark Boal.

Overseas Alive crushed the Box Office taking $94m from 40 markets including $16.8m in the UK that finally knocks Avatar off the top in its 12th week! Avatar meanwhile moved to over $2,6b worldwide.

UK wise the only thing of note was A Single Man closing in on £2.5m on just 85 screens.

Next week we will see the arrival of Shutter Island, Green Zone and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo in the UK whilst Remember Me, She's Out of My League and Our Family Wedding open in the US as well as the Damon/Greengrass actioner. Green Zone will have a job ousting Alice and I think she may stay atop so I expect to see big money splashing around next weekend. Remember Me should do decent business for R-Patz fans but not close to Dear John, probably $15m. UK wise Alice will stay top but I think Green Zone will be extremely close given its Wednesday release.