Wow, I don’t think anybody predicted the massive opening weekend that Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland just had. Audiences scooped up an amazing $116 Million worth of tickets to the film. This is the biggest opening weekend in Tim Burton’s entire career, and despite a critical consensus that this was a very average movie, word of mouth appears to be good.

This also appears to indicate that audiences are embracing the 3D trend. I am very curious if there will be a large drop-off next weekend, because the 3D in Alice was in no way comparable to  the 3D in Avatar. If  Avatar is what people are expecting, they are going to be disappointed.

It is interesting to note that Avatar only opened to $77 Million, but has now grossed over $720 Million. I will be pretty shocked if Alice has any real legs at the the box office, but the totals this morning show me that this movie may be full of surprises.

Brooklyn’s Finest, starring Don Cheadle, Richard Gere, and Ethan Hawke, came in second over the weekend with $13.5 Million.  It played in just under 2,000 theaters, and has a fairly modest budget of $25 Million, so it will likely end up profitable.

Shutter Island made about $13 Million in its 3rd week in release.  It now has exceeded its budget of $80 Million (with $95 Million total), and looks certain to hit $100 Million next weekend.

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Even when he tackles darker subject matter, Tim Burton always manages to bring a touch of whimsy to his films.  On the surface, Alice in Wonderland seems to be the perfect tale for the eccentric filmmaker to put his own spin on. With Alice oscillating wildly between giant and diminutive proportions, two queens vying for control of the land, and anthropomorphic fauna and animals, the tale seems ripe for a wild re-imagining.

Trouble is, Burton leaves the enchantment at home along with warmth and heart. The resulting movie is rather cold, devoid of color and brightness (save for the mad hatter’s shock of orange hair and startling green eyes) and not a lot of fun. I’m not saying that makes it bad, but it was very different from what I was expecting.

In this particular retelling, Alice is a grown woman instead of a little girl. At a large party she learns she is to marry a stodgy bore of a man. She rushes off to be by herself and falls down the rabbit hole into the “underworld.”  There she encounters the characters that we are all familiar with. There is the white rabbit (voiced by Michael Sheen), the Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry), the stoned-out-of-his-cocoon caterpillar (Alan Rickman), and of course, the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp.)

This version of the  Mad Hatter is a more tragic character with a brutal back story to explain his madness.  I found Depp’s portrayal of the Hatter annoying and frenetic, crazy for the sake of being crazy. He drifts in and out of a heavy Scottish brogue for reasons not immediately clear.  I wish the character had been toned down a bit as I think it would have made him a little more likable.

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This week in New York City, the annual Toy Fair convention hits the Jacob Javits Center and thousands of new and popular toys and toy properties are shown off. There were, of course, some less-than-interesting booths, but we know what you want to see, so we went straight to the newest lines of toys and statues based on some of the upcoming movie and TV properties.

Obviously, Toy Story 3 had a huge presence at the show, given the fact that it’s the best hybrid of toys and film out there today. Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland had some great new figures of the whacked out Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter. LEGO stepped up their game with some brand new LEGO Star Wars playsets, including a great “Luke on Hoth” scene.

Diamond was also in attendence with some great new Ghostbusters products, including a new Ghostbusters replica sign for those hardcore fans. Finally, there were some great new 12-inch figures for the upcoming Jonah Hex film, including our first look at John Malkovich from the film.

Check out our Movie Toys picture gallery from the show after the jump, and be sure to check back in tomorrow to see what else we’ve got to show you from this year’s Toy Fair.

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While more than half of the people gearing up for this weekend’s Super Bowl XLIV will be more excited for the commercials, we unfortunately won’t be getting as many movie trailers as we are hoping to see. It’s been reported that Paramount, Disney, and Universal are the only studios buying time to promote their upcoming films during Sunday’s broadcast.

During the last two Super Bowl games, studios amped up their marketing and promoted 9 films over the course of the game, while we’ll only be seeing ads for 7 films this Sunday. Paramount will be buying ads to promote Shutter Island, and The Last Airbender, leaving Iron Man 2 out in the cold.

Disney, who promoted films like Up and Race to Witch Mountain last year will be focusing more on Toy Story 3, Alice In Wonderland, and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Meanwhile, Universal will be setting up promotion for The Wolfman, Robin Hood, and their 3D animated pic Despicable Me.

While it’s still mostly speculation that these films will get Super Bowl spots, it’s been confirmed that Overture bought time to promote The Crazies and Sony bought time for Bounty Hunter. Warner Bros and Fox will sit this one out, as they have since 2008.

Though we may be getting less movie trailers than previous games, this will be a big year for commercials. There are more than 60 spots that have been slotted for this year’s game, where last year’s telecast fell just short. This Sunday will be an entertaining show, for sports fans and entertainment fans alike.

Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland is certainly turning heads with every new image and trailer that the film has to offer. Mostly because of how outrageous Burton’s style seems to be with this timeless classic, and of course his continued success when partnering up with Johnny Depp.

Fans of both Depp and Burton will get an eyeful in this new clip that’s been released for the film. In it, we get a glimpse at Depp, while he talks about Burton’s take on the classic. Also, some great shots of Twiddle-Dee and Twiddle-Dum, as well as the Cheshire Cat and even Crispin Glover as The Knave of Hearts.

The film also stars Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hatheway, Alan Rickman, Kingdom’s Stephen Fry, Christopher Lee, and Mia Wasikowska as the titular Alice.

Check out the clip after the jump, and be sure to see much more from Burton’s wild new world as time draws closer to the March 5th release date. There are also rumors that Disney is buying time during next Sunday’s Super Bowl for an extended trailer, so be sure to get your DVR’s ready!

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Sure, all the news and focus of the internet, right now, is on the new Iron Man 2 trailer which, in my opinion deserves the amount of excitement that it’s inspired. But, that’s not what we’re talking about now. The new trailer for Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, is online and gives us a pretty thorough, and spectacular glimpse into Burton’s creation of Wonderland.

We see the White Rabbit, the Red Queen and her main man, The Knave of Hearts, and yes, the Mad Hatter. It looks fantastical, and certainly Burton inspired, if still in that candy-coated look that he’s had on previous film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

The film’s synopsis reads as, “19 year-old Alice, returns to the whimsical world she first encountered as a young girl, embarks on a fantastical journey to find her true destiny and end the Red Queen’s reign of terror.” And the trailer gives us glimpses of the Jabberwock, the Mad Hatter’s companions the Dormouse and the March Hare; as well as the Cheshire Cat, and Tweedledee and Tweedledum.

The film features Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, Stephen Fry, Alan Rickman, and Mia Wasikowska as Alice, along with a multitude of others. It’s scheduled for release March 10, 2010, in 3-D and IMAX.

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Excited for the upcoming SyFy adaptation of Lweis Carrol’s classic Alice in Wonderland tale? Well, if so you’re in luck because we’ve got a preview of that two-part drama for you right here. According to the network, this version of the story will be “an entirely new look at “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking-Glass.”

For this re-imagined adaptation, writer/director Nick Willing “mines the bizarre ingenuity and twisted logic of Carroll’s work to create a daringly different, boldly colorful and delightfully skewed dreamscape of his own.” Well, that does sound interesting, doesn’t it?

I wonder what Tim Burton would say about that? He’s been known to create a few different and bold dreamscapes himself. Oh well, I guess we’ll get a chance to compare this version with Burton’s when his hits theaters.

Until then, check out the preview for this Alice after the jump. Alice, which features Kathy Bates, Tim Curry,  Colm Meaney and Natasha Calis, premieres this Sunday at 9/8C on SyFy.

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There is lots to be said about what we’ve seen from Tim Burton’s upcoming reimagining of Alice in Wonderland, and most of it is about Johnny Depp’s performance as the Mad Hatter. While that will be a definite selling point for the film, there are still many things that it has to offer, such as the distribution in Disney 3D and IMAX 3D.

The rest of the cast fills out quite nicely, with Anne Hatheway, Helena Bonham Carter (Burton’s wife), Crispin Glover, and Mia Wasikowska joining the cast. Expect this to be about as twisted as the way Lewis Carroll originally imagined it.

The film hits theaters in 3D and IMAX on March 5th, 2010, but you can check out the brand new poster that has hit the web, along with an invitation to join The Disloyal Subjects of the Mad Hatter on Facebook. From there, you can become a fan to get major updates on the film and goodies for you to download.

Otherwise, keep it here as we bring you new stuff on Alice In Wonderland in the future, and check out the first full poster for the film after the jump.

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Director Tim Burton is without a doubt one of the most talented and visually distinctive filmmakers working today. His films, such as Edward Scissorhands, Batman, The Nightmare Before Christmas and the recent Sweeny Todd, all have his signature stylistic stamp and once you begin to watch them, you can certainly tell you’re watching a Tim Burton film.

As we’ve told you before, Burton is currently working on his version of the classic Lewis Carroll novel Alice in Wonderland. Of course, as can plainly be seen from the pics and the recent trailer, Burton is definitely putting his own spin on the novel and this film will, once gain, be unmistakably his.

I caught up with the auteur during Comic-Con in San Diego while he was doing press for Alice in Wonderland. Among the topics covered were his connection to the book itself, why he shot in 3D, if the film is a reboot or a re-imagining and if its a love story.

QUESTION: Lewis Carrol and Tim Burton seem to be the perfect marriage.  What is it about this particular book that you felt suited your unique sensibilities as filmmaker?

TIM BURTON: Well, it wasn’t only the books, it was growing up and you hear this kind of imagery in music and songs and I dunno it was just something about the kind of the imagery that he created. Throughout lots of different generations it still plays in peoples minds so I think any kind of thing that has strong dreamlike imagery that stays with you is important to your subconscious thinking and creative mind.

So I just felt like you try to do it a different way because I’ve never really seen a lot of any movie version that I really liked. The intent was to take that imagery and try to make it into a movie.

Q: I think we can all imagine how this story suits you visually, but what’s your emotional connection?

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News of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland is everywhere this week at Comic-Con in San Diego. We’ve been covering this movie quite a bit and even brought you the first stills of the character from the film.

This time around we’ve got the brand new trailer for the film that pretty much everyone is buzzing about around the Internets. What can you say about a trailer for a film directed by Tim Burton other than it look amazing.

The trailer does look amazing and really showcases the care and attention to detail, character and story Burton is trying to provide here. The Flickcast is here to provide you with the first Alice in Wonderland trailer, straight from Wired, that must have hit the internet right under everyone’s noses.

You can watch the trailer right here after the break.

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