• 3-D is a waste of a perfectly good dimension. Hollywood’s current crazy stampede toward it is suicidal. It adds nothing essential to the moviegoing experience.
• Film critic and all-around awesome person Roger Ebert • Talking about the craze towards three-dimensional films started by “Avatar” and continued with pretty much every major hit movie so far this year. His argument? It makes you sick, and you don’t really need it to tell a great story. “A great film completely engages our imaginations,” he writes. “What would ‘Fargo’ gain in 3-D? ‘Precious’? ‘Casablanca’?” source

• “Alice” had a good first week, and hasn’t done bad, but it’s not epic. Tim Burton’s latest big-budget hit, which also uses the spectacular 3D technology of “Avatar” (though not as well), looked like it was on the way to a similarly epic run for a couple of weeks. But while it did good this week, it’s now clear that it’ll just be a big hit, not an epic one.

“Alice” in her third weekend

• 45% dip in box-office receipts in weekend three source

• $116M “Alice in Wonderland’s” box-office take after its first weekend
• $209M “Alice’s” second-week mark; receipts dipped 46 percent
• $265M its third-week tally; it managed to stay on top despite competition

“Avatar’s” first three weeks

• 9.8% dip in “Avatar” in its third weekend source

• $77M where “Avatar” stood after its snow-marred first weekend
• $212M “Avatar” after weekend two; it was a huge hit during the week, even
• $352M after its third weekend, it was over halfway to “Titanic’s” $600 million

Why the diverging paths?

• » Did the snow help “Avatar” build staying power? Director James Cameron miraculously had a movie with a similar box-office run to his previous film, “Titanic.” Part of that may have been due to a huge snowstorm which slammed the East Coast in its first weekend, keeping demand for the movie high when the snow was eventually cleared.
• » Blow up, then fade: One of the major differences between “Alice” and “Avatar” is that “Alice” had a more traditional path to success, one that most blockbusters have followed in the last decade. The much-hyped movie with the big first weekend often fades quickly. Some exceptions exist – “The Dark Knight,” for example, came out of the gate quicker than “Avatar” did and had some staying power, but faded by its fifth week. The secret to an “Avatar”-style run? Slow and steady wins the race.

• $62 million in its second week alone; not bad source

• Three Words: Daft Punk soundtrack. This trailer premiered during “Alice in Wonderland” (a movie that had a pretty stellar debut, by the way) and looks genuinely awesome. This film could’ve been quite cheesy, but instead seems to strike a truly exciting tone. And also, Jeff Bridges is pretty much awesome in every role he’s in.

• $41 million for the 3D “Alice” on Friday alone source

• We know what you’re thinking. Johnny Depp really looks good in drag. Oh wait, he’s not Alice? Whoaaaaa. Sorry. :( source