New Arrivals Can't Top 'Wonderland', but 'Wimpy Kid' Kicks Ass
Monday, March 22, 2010 at 11:33PM
KenPierce in Alice In Wonderland, Box Office, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Gerard Butler, Green Zone, Jennifer Aniston, Jude Law, Matt Damon, Movies, Paul Greengrass, Repo Men, The Bounty Hunter, Tim Burton, box office

Three new wide releases were unable to topple Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland from the top spot at the box office this weekend.  Burton's 3D continuation of the Alice In Wonderland story picked up an additional $34.2 million, bringing its cumulative total to just over $265 million for distributing studio Disney.

Second place went to another family film, 20th Century Fox's Diary of a Wimpy Kid.  Diary had an impressive $22.1 million in its first weekend.  With no above the line stars, tough competition from Alice In Wonderland and a modest $15 million budget, it's obvious Fox can't be anything but happy with that result.

Sony's The Bounty Hunter drew $20.6 million for third place.  This is likely not as strong a result as Sony would have liked.  The Gerard Butler/Jennifer Aniston pairing was heavily promoted.  With a $40 million production budget the film should eventually be profitable, but won't be a runaway success.

Jude Law and Forest Whitaker were not enough to bump the weekend's other major new release, Universal's Repo Men, out of fourth place.  With an anemic $6.2 million gross, the film will be looking to DVD and Blu-ray sales to turn a profit on its $32 million budget. 

Finally, rounding out the top five was holdover Green Zone.  The third pairing of Matt Damon with director Paul Greengrass dropped 57% in its second weekend to bring in $6.1 million for Universal.  With just under $25 million to date against a $100 million budget, the film represents another commercial failure for Iraq-war themed features.

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