KICK-ASS LIVES UP TO ITS NAME

Action-hero comedy, Kick-Ass lived up to its name in winning top spot at the Box Office this weekend taking in $19.8 million.  Disney's How to Train Your Dragon however, made it a tight match in second spot with $19.6 million.

Date Night despite slipping slightly to third spot, still garnered a healthy $17.3 million bringing its two week tally to $49.2 million.  Its cause was undoubtedly helped by a press blitz, including Tina Fey's return hosting gig on Saturday Night Live last weekend.  The romantic comedy overall continues to garner positive reviews.

Sony Screen Gems' comedy remake Death at a Funeral debuted in fourth spot this weekend with $17 million from 2,500 screens.  I will definitely be catching it in the near future despite its negative reviews.

"CLASH" IS A TITAN

Director Louis Leterrier's Clash of the Titans (3-D) remake was Box Office gold this Easter weekend, pulling in a stunning $64.1 million dollars from 3,777 screens. The Warner Bros. film stars Hollywood's most bankable new actor Sam Worthington (Avatar), Ralph Fiennes and Liam Neeson. A strong cast wasn't enough to save it from being ripped to shreds by critics. Also, foreign totals have yet to come in, but it won't be long before this one recoups its $125 million budget. Well done, indeed.  Did any of you see it?  I'm still on the fence about it.

Director/actor Tyler Perry has his market cornered and they turned out again this weekend to show their ardent support for his latest effort Why Did I Get Married Too?, which came in second with $30.1 million from 2,700 theatres. The Lionsgate film stars Janet Jackson, Jill Scott, Sharon Leal, Louis Gossett Jr.,  Michael Jai White and Perry himself.

The year's best-reviewed film How to Train Your Dragon from Disney earned $29.2 million in its second week bringing its total to $92.3 million in earnings. Worldwide, the film has made $134.6 million and should be sticking around the Top Ten for a while as the positive word-of-mouth continues to spread.

Alice in Wonderland (3-D) hangs on in fifth with $8.2 million this weekend, just surpassing the $300 million in earnings mark domestically.

Comedies Hot Tub Time Machine ($8 million), The Bounty Hunter ($6.2 million), She's Out of My League ($1.4 million) and the incredibly resilient Shutter Island just hangs on to a spot in the Top Ten with $1.4 million. Click on the links to read reviews for each of these.

Fox's Date Night opens in 3,300 screens next Friday. Expect a massive debut for the comedy starring Tina Fey and Steve Carell.

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON SETS WONDERLAND AFLAME

How to Train Your Dragon successfully usurped the throne of The White Queen in Wonderland this weekend, spitting out a fiery $43.3 million from 4,000 screens. Although not a jaw-dropping performance, it fared very well still and will likely do well again next weekend based on all the positive word-of-mouth it's getting. Read my glowing review of it here. Believe me though, I'm not the only one who loved it. Rotten Tomatoes has it a whopping 97% consensus among critics, making it the best reviewed film of the year.   Two-week champion Alice in Wonderland slipped to second this weekend and to-date it has made over $300 million domestically - a stellar showing.

MGM's Hot Tub Time Machine, tries to cash in on the travel back in time formula of Back to the Future and 17 Again, landing in third spot with $13.7 million from 2,700 screens. The comedy which caters to twentysomething plus male demographic hasn't fared decently with a 62% consensus at Rotten Tomatoes.

The Bounty Hunter continues to perform consistently, placing in fourth with $12.4 million this weekend, making it two Gerard Butler films in the Top Ten right now, the other being Dragon. It would be safe to say that he is one of the most bankable male actors now in Hollywood. Butler however isn't the only actor to accomplish the Top Ten double this week, as his Canadian Dragon co-star Jay Baruchel's She's Out of My League ranks in sixth this weekend.

There isn't much else to report from the Box Office this weekend. Many will be interested to know that Avatar finally has dropped off the chart, landing in twelfth spot. Its gross intake worldwide is now up to an unheard of $2.67 billion.

THE BOUNTY HUNTER SHOOTS, BUT MISFIRES

Despite looking like a genuine threat to the throne, The Bounty Hunter was just no match for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland this weekend, which stays on top for a third week in a row taking in $34.5 million.  

Diary of a Wimpy Kid from Fox, lands in second spot with $21.8 million after getting much word-of-mouth build-up in the kids' demographic.  The adapted film is the first from its popular children's novel franchise.

The Bounty Hunter placed in third, a romantic comedy with a bit of action, stars Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston as a feuding ex-husband and wife.  Universally panned by critics, the film brought in $21 million this weekend from 3,074 theatres.  It was made for a $40 million budget and isn't looking like a loss for Sony Pictures as it has yet to open overseas... yet.  Read my review of it here.

Jude Law's action vehicle Repo Men from Universal Pictures, lands in a distant fourth spot earning $6.1 million, after being made for a $32 million budget.  Ouch.

Rounding out the bottom is Avatar which has seen better days, earning just $1.06 million in its 13th week and likely final week in the Top Ten.   Finally!  The film is said to be amidst another relaunch shortly with extended footage because clearly it hasn't made enough money the first time around.  God, help us.

As an interesting aside, The Runaways, which I loved,  landed in 13th spot with just $800k in earnings, but one most note that it only opened in approximately 230 theatres this weekend.  It will be expanding to wide release April 9, 2010.  Expect a huge spike in a couple weeks' time.

ALICE IN WONDERLAND - UNTOUCHABLE

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland continues to demolish its opponents at the Box Office. In its second week the film brought in an outstanding $62 million from 3,700 screens. It looks like a safe bet to hold on for a third week on top.

Matt Damon's latest film Green Zone which has been panned pretty much across-the-board, debuts in second with $14.5 million, which is uncharacteristically low for a film starring the Hollywood hunk.

Paramount's She's Out of My League (aka The Girl Next Door, aka Can't Buy Me Love) follows the formula of hot girl-paired with-geek yet again and performs respectably with a number three spot debut, with $9.6 million in earnings.

Shutter Island is still performing well even it its fourth week of release, slipping only to fifth spot with $8.1 million, bringing its total domestic gross to $108 million thus far.

Ugly Betty star America Ferrara headlines her first widely released film, Our Family Wedding from Fox Searchlight, bringing in $7.6 million in its first week. The interracial romantic comedy opened in 1,600 in theatres, which is by all means a fair showing.

Gerrard Butler and Jennifer Aniston's The Bounty Hunter is expected to debut big next weekend. But will it be enough to challenge Alice?  Maybe.  We'll see....

ALICE IN HOLLYWOOD

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland obliterated the competition this weekend at the Box Office, exceeding all expectations with $116.3 in domestic earnings alone.  This sets a March Box Office record for biggest opening ever.  The Buena Vista film wowed audiences in 3-D, proving that the strategy for a delayed release post-Avatar was actually a smart idea.  Read my review of it here.

Action drama Brooklyn's Finest debuted in distant second spot with $13.5 million in ticket sales, just edging out Scorcese's Shutter Island, which is still showing a lot of staying power.  Internationally, it has grossed $130 million in only three weeks of release.  Mighty impressive.

The Crazies slips to sixth spot this week, but has actually proven to be a profitable investment for Overture Films with $27 million in earnings to date.  Crazy Heart continues to perform very well in  ninth spot all based on Jeff Bridges' Oscar buzz.  The film has almost surpassed $30 million in earnings, having been made for only $7 million.  He'll more than likely take a golden statue home tonight.

REVIEW: TIM BURTON'S ALICE IN WONDERLAND

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland is a gorgeous visual spectacle. Although fantasy films aren't exactly my favourite genre of film, watching this in 3-D (my very first time) was simply breathtaking.

The film is based on Lewis Carroll's books Alice in Wonderland, in addition to Through The Looking Glass. The story begins in Alice's (newcomer Mia Wasikowska) late teens, where she finds herself at a party in which she is to become engaged to Hamish (Leo Bill). She of course has absolutely no desire to marry him and escapes to Wonderland once again, lost and in danger at the hands of the evil Red Queen, acted to perfection by Helena Bonham-Carter. Along her journey, Alice is reunited with old friends including Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp), Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry) and Blue Caterpillar (Alan Rickman) whom are all there to protect her in uniting Alice with the good White Queen (Anne Hathaway). There is of course, a sibling rivalry between Red Queen and White Queen and in the end Alice acting as the White Queen's champion, is pitted against the Red Queen's champion, The Jabberwocky.  But does she believe in herself enough to control her own destiny?

Although there are some riveting CGI graphics and very strong performances by the outstanding ensemble cast, all eyes just gravitate to Helena Bonham-Carter as the bulbous-headed Red Queen. Depp is curiously charming as Mad Hatter and Hathaway, whom I absolutely adore, is simply out-acted in this film perhaps confusing the true essence of White Queen in her exaggerated prissiness.  Wasikowska exceeds all expectations as the film's star and certainly has a bright future ahead of her.

Let's be honest though - the narrative is far from perfect. There are many gaps in the back story of sibling rivalry between White Queen and Red Queen. Above this, many of the characters who appear in the story, which carries on Alice's legacy in her late teens already have a history with her which Burton assumes all know, which might be hasty. There are just enough details given in Alice in Wonderland to give the audience the gist of what Lewis Carroll's treasured stories are all about. In the end though, the true message of the story is timeless and important to young people: to live their lives on their own terms and to always make decisions for themselves.

DISNEY FIGHTS FOR EARLY DVD RELEASE OF ALICE IN WONDERLAND

According to Variety Magazine, there is a bit of an uproar brewing between Disney and theatre owners over Alice in Wonderland, due in theatres March 5, 2010.  Disney is pushing for the DVD release of the film to be bumped up from the standard 16 weeks to just 12 weeks.  This move raised some concerns with theatre owners as they were unclear to whether or not it was Disney's intention to negotiate a new standard for all their releases. 

As negotiations continued, Disney had an opportunity to clarify that they are in fact only lobbying for their studio to be granted at most, one or two advanced DVD releases a year.  Other studios are likely to follow Disney's lead as this will likely set a new precedent for DVD release schedules.  

This of course, raises many concerns as shortening theatrical runs for blockbusters like Alice in Wonderland could adversely impact Box Office grosses.  On the other hand though, this might increase revenue for movie studios which in turn might mean they will have more money to invest in a wider selection of films in the long term.  Or perhaps, movie-goers might feel the pressure and actually go out to see films closer to their actual release dates.  

What do you think?  Are DVD releases of films generally coming too far after their theatrical releases?