Box office report: 'Alice' wins the weekend; 'Wimpy' outperforms 'Bounty Hunter'

Image Credit: Rob McEwanDisney’s 3-D juggernaut Alice in Wonderland continues to surpass expectations with a top spot at the box office its third weekend in theaters. With only a 45% fall, the CG spectacle starring Johnny Depp grossed an additional $34.5 million to put its total take at $266 million. That’s not good news for DreamWorks Animation, which is hoping to steal the majority of the 2500 3-D screens available for its family film How to Train Your Dragon, which bows next weekend. The Jeffrey Katzenberg-led studio is going to have to do quite a sales job to wrest those theaters away from Alice.

The execs at Twentieth Century Fox must be pleased this morning. Their live-action kid flick based on the best-selling book Diary of a Wimpy Kid (pictured) did well its opening weekend, grossing an estimated $22 million. With spring break staggered over the next few weeks, this film should hold in theaters; its biggest threat also comes from Dragon. But hopefully audiences, who gave it an A- in the Cinemascore exit polling, will show up in strong enough numbers that the studio decides to greenlight a sequel to the beloved series. Wimpy was also stronger than The Bounty Hunter, which had been the favored winner of this weekend’s new releases. Starring Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston, this PG-13-rated romantic action comedy grossed an estimated $21 million for a third-place finish. It only scored a B- with audiences in its Cinemascore poll, so it is likely to take a steep fall next weekend. Unfortunately, Universal didn’t have as much luck with its new release Repo Men. The R-rated sci-fi flick starring Forest Whitaker and Jude Law opened to a paltry $6.1 million. The film wasn’t too expensive, but expectations for the release were originally in the low double-digits. Paramount is claiming the fifth spot for its R-rated comedy She’s Out of My League. With a strong 38% hold, the low-budget comedy added another $6 million to its cume.

Universal Pictures took the sixth slot with its Matt Damon-starrer Green Zone. In its second weekend in release, the R-rated Iraq actioner fell a steep 58% to an estimated $5.9 million. Its two-week total now stands at almost $25 million. Shutter Island is still in the top ten. In its fifth week of release, the Martin Scorsese-directed thriller grossed close to $5 million for a total cume that now stands at $115.7 million. Avatar took spot eight with an additional $4 million in box office receipts. The film, in its 14th weekend in theaters, has now earned $737 million domestically. Fox Searchlight’s Our Family Wedding was in the ninth spot its sophomore session. The film, starring America Ferrera, grossed an estimated $3.8 million, a 50% fall from its opening weekend. Its total take now stands at close to $14 million. And spot ten went to the Robert Pattinson-starrer Remember Me. Falling a steep 59%, the low-budget drama earned an additional $3.3 million for an overall cume of close to $14 million.

In limited release, Apparition released the Kristen Stewart-starring rock biopic The Runaways on 244 screens. The film didn’t score all that well in its limited capacity, earning less than $1 million for a per-screen average of $3,294. Leaving the Twilight fold isn’t as easy as it seems! Check back next weekend as the 3-D battle for theaters gets heated.

More on Diary of a Wimpy Kid from EW:

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Using pipsqueak bodies to tell grown-up truths