MUMBAI: Tim Burton’s epic fantasy adventure Alice in Wonderland reached a historic milestone passing the $1 billion in global box office. Alice becomes only the sixth title to join this exclusive list and the third most popular non-sequel in motion picture history behind only Titanic and Avatar.
"We feel incredibly fortunate to be able to showcase such an amazing 3D film from visionary director Tim Burton and the creative talents of Johnny Depp, Mia Wasikowska, Helena Bonham Carter, and Anne Hathaway. Our marketing teams joined with our exhibition partners to find every opportunity to bring this creative masterpiece to fans around the world," said The Walt Disney Studios chairman Rich Ross.
Alice began setting records during its opening weekend (March 5-7), becoming the biggest March opening in industry history, the biggest 3D opening ever and biggest career opening for Burton. It also became The Walt Disney Studios’ biggest opening for a non-sequel.
In the US, Alice in Wonderland surpassed $332 million at the box office and is officially the third highest-grossing film in The Walt Disney Studios’ history, behind only Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and Finding Nemo. It currently ranks as the 19th most successful film in domestic box office history.
Simultaneously, Alice began to conquer audiences around the globe, tallying more than $667 million to date, en route to becoming Disney’s biggest overseas release of all-time. In Japan alone, Alice has maintained its #1 position for six weeks, resulting in more than $108 million to date. The United Kingdom added more than $64 million, while France, Russia and Italy all have topped $42 million. Germany, Australia, China and Mexico have surpassed the $30 million mark, while Spain and Brazil’s cumulative totals each exceeded $25 million. The movie continues to entertain theatrical audiences in many countries throughout the world.
Just as the film crosses the $1 billion global theatrical box office threshold, the movie will make its home entertainment debut as a Disney 3-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy), 1-Disc Blu-ray and 1-Disc DVD on 1 June, 2010 in North America, Russia, China, Mexico and Italy. Availability in other international markets will occur throughout June, July and August starting with Belgium (June 2), the Netherlands (June 2), the United Kingdom (June 4) and Argentina (June 9).
