'Clash' Krakens Easter Weekend

Warner Bros' Clash of the Titans opened this Easter weekend with $61.4 million in ticket sales.  The film probably would have grossed even higher, but had its 3D screen availability limited by other recent 3D releases Alice in Wonderland and How to Train Your Dragon.  Even with limited 3D screens, the higher priced tickets represented approximately $31 million of its opening frame debut.  Critical response to the film has been mixed, but audience exit polls are very favorable, meaning the film will likely recoup its $125 million production budget over the next few weeks.

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'Wonderland' Slain by 'Dragon'

Paramount & DreamWorks' mega-budgeted 3D animated film How To Train Your Dragon started its run with a strong (but not record-breaking) $43.3 million this weekend.  With a $165 million budget, their timing is perfect; much of the target audience is on Spring Break and the Easter long weekend is coming up.  As is the norm these days for tent pole pictures, much of the gross came from 3D and IMAX 3D screens.

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New Arrivals Can't Top 'Wonderland', but 'Wimpy Kid' Kicks Ass

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.

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'Alice' Shrinks Competition's Grosses

Tim Burton and Johnny Depp's latest collaboration, Alice In Wonderland held onto the top spot for a second weekend, dropping 47% to bring in still a stellar $62 million.  With $208 million so far, 'Wonderland' is on track to be Tim Burton's highest grossing movie to date.

Matt Damon's third film with director Paul Greengrass, The Green Zone, opened in second place with $14.5 million.  With a $100 million budget, Universal Studios is not likely to earn back its investment during the film's run at the box office.

Paramount's She's Out of My League, with a $20 million budget, came in third place, with $9.6 million.  In fourth was Remember Me (with a $16 million budget). Both films should have no problem becoming profitable for their studios.

Finally, in fifth place was Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island, with $108 million gross to date, the additional $8 million from its third weekend will further help Scorsese and star Leonardo DiCaprio's bankability going forward.

'Wonderland' Apparently Full of Money

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland blew away already high expectations, coming in with a total of $116 million domestically in its opening weekend and $210 million worldwide.  It came in as the sixth highest grossing opening weekend of all time, and easily took the record for largest opening weekend in the first quarter of the year.  Given its family-friendly nature, broadly popular subject matter, strong marketing, 3-D "wow" factor and Johnny Depp and Tim Burton's star power, the film should hold over well in the weekends to come, at least until such time as its 3-D screens are taken away for other, newer, films.

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