I saw "Alice" and I was powerfully underwhelmed. Unlike my "Avatar" experience, the glasses was large and clunky and whole thing felt like watching a movie through one of those old View-masters. The colors and "3-D" were also reminiscent of View-master viewing.
Oddly, I was more enchanted by the flashbacks featuring Alice first Wonderland visit as a young girl. I will say Helena Bonham Carter is a big-headed hoot as the Red Queen and Crispin Glover is appropriately dastardly as her wicked knave. ~(no)rave! --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Keith Johnson <keithbjohn...@...> wrote: > > Wow, at 2nd place "Alice" is still about to hit the three hundred mill mark! > Anyone whose seen it: is it worth it? > I'll probably try to catch "Dragon" next weekend. Like I said earlier, i'm > not a big Dreamworks fan, but something about the trailers for this film has > me interested. Although, I'm not sure how the five-dollar theatre near me can > accommodate both "Dragon" and next week's "Clash of the Titans", as it only > has one 3D screen. > > Anyone see "Hot Tub Time Machine"? It could be stupid, camp fun, but I'd like > to know that before dropping my dwindling dollars on it... > > ******************************************* > > > 'Dragon' makes weekend debut at No. 1 > 'Alice' slips to second place with $17.3 million > > > By Gregg Kilday > > March 28, 2010, 11:41 AM ET > > > > hr/photos/stylus/132475-dragon_341x182.jpg > > "How to Train Your Dragon" 3D's rising star got another boost at the North > American boxoffice this weekend as Paramount's release of DreamWorks > Animation's "How to Train Your Dragon" flew to the top spot, and Disney's > "Alice in Wonderland" held on to enough screens to emerge a solid number two. > > Co-existing on the available 3D screens, "Dragon" bowed to an estimated $43.3 > million, while "Alice," in its fourth weekend, lost 49% of its audience as it > took in another $17.3 million, bringing its domestic total to a whopping $293 > million. > > MGM's "Hot Tub Time Machine," which relied on R-rated comedy instead of > flashy effects, debuted more modestly as it collected $13.7 million. > > Close behind was the second weekend of Sony's battling rom-com "The Bounty > Hunter." The Jennifer Aniston-Gerard Butler teaming fell by just 40% as it > brought in $12.4 million, bringing its domestic total to $38.8 million. > > In fifth place, Fox's "Diary of a Wimpy Kid," also in its second weekend, > declining by 55%, brought home $10 million as its cume rose to $35.8 million. > > While the weekend's top ten amassed $111.9 million, about on par with the > $110.7 million that the top ten collected last weekend, this frame's top ten > gross was down 18% from the top ten in the comparable weekend last year when > DreamWorks Animation's "Monsters vs. Aliens" debuted to $59.3 million. > > The "Dragon" launch did provide further evidence of the appeal of 3D. The > movie bowed in 4,055 locations, but ticket sales from its 2,178 3D theaters, > a number that raised prices this weekend, accounted for 68% of the movie's > weekend gross. Imax alone -- "Dragon" is playing in 185 Imax theaters -- > contributed 11.5% of the total, up from the 10.5% of gross that Imax theaters > contributed to "Alice's" opening weekend. "That shows we're accumulating more > fans, as we go along, who chose Imax as a venue," said Greg Foster, president > of filmed entertainment at Imax, which will be hosting "Dragon" for six weeks > until "Iron Man 2" comes along. > > "Dragon" didn't explode out of the gate like "Monsters" last March. But with > a Cinemascore of A, and 97% positive reviews on the RottenTomatoes Web site, > it should play well over the spring holidays. > > "It's a different competitive environment," said Anne Globe, DreamWorks head > of worldwide marketing. "The demos were very evenly split, so the movie is > playing broadly. The reviews have been tremendous. And we're anticipating > very strong playability over the next few weeks. Exhibition is really > committed to 'Dragon' and to DreamWorks Animation." > > The movie's opening weekend audience bridged the age gap: 49% of moviegoers > were under 25, and 51% older. And it skewed slightly more female by 55%. > > "Hot Tub," meanwhile, played more to older (62% were over 25) males (58%). > Its $13.7 million opening from 2,754 locations was on the lower end of > expectations for the time-travel comedy, produced for about $35 million and > starring John Cusack and Rob Corddry. > > While Cinemascore's polling awarded it a B, MGM reported the movie received a > definitive recommend of 85% from young males, so the embattled studio, which > hasn't had a movie in the marketplace since last fall's "Fame," is hoping > they spread the world. > > Filling out the top ten, Paramount's teen comedy "She's Out of My League" > ranked sixth with $3.5 million; Universal's Iraq-set "Green Zone" was seventh > as it eked out $3.4 million; Paramount's "Shutter Island," with a cumulative > domestic haul of $121 million, was eighth with $3.2 million; Universal's > futuristic thriller "Repo Man" was ninth with $3 million; and Fox > Searchlight's ethnic comedy "Our Family Wedding" was tenth with $2.2 million. > > For the first time in its 15-week run, Fox's "Avatar" fell out of the top > ten. Ranked eleventh, it rang up $2 million as its North American total > amounted to more than $740 million. > > On the specialty front, Focus' "Greenberg," Noah Baumbach's L.A.-set > relationship study starring Ben Stiller, expanded into 181 theaters, where it > grossed $1.1 million for a per-theater average of $5,850, bringing its cume > to $1.2 million. > > Sony Picture Classics first weekend of Atom Egoyan's R-rated marital thriller > "Chloe," starring Liam Neeson with Amanda Seyfried in the title role, > collected $1 million on 350 screens for a per-theater average of $2,863. > > Apparition's "The Runaways," in its second weekend, had to settle for > $446,000 in 237 theaters and a cume of $1.6 million. > > Music Box's Scandanavian detective tale "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," > also in its second weekend, showed more life as it took in $352,000 in 44 > theaters for a cume of $840,000. > > "Waking Sleeping Beauty," Disney's documentary about the studio's animation > renaissance in the '80s, scored $33,100 in its opening engagements in five > locations. >
