The FINANCIAL -- Disney’s 'Alice in Wonderland' earned $116.3 million in its opening weekend. The Washington Post reports that the surprising total easily surpassed all other films in release and gave Walt Disney Studios an even bigger launch than that of the hugely popular 3-D film "Avatar."

The movie also set other records: the biggest debut for March and for a 3-D film, the largest opening weekend for the year, and the best-ever Imax opening, Hollywood.com Box-Office said, according to Bloomberg. “Alice,” directed by Tim Burton, which stars Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, opened in 3,728 domestic theaters with 2,063 3-D screens and on an additional 188 in Imax 3-D, according to Hollywood.com. Movie studios are turning to 3-D films to bolster attendance and ticket sales following the record box-office success of “Avatar,” James Cameron’s 3-D epic. Cinemas on average charge about $3 more per ticket for a 3-D film.

“This is a sensational opening weekend,” said Brandon Gray, president of Box Office Mojo, a research company in Sherman Oaks, California, the same source reports. “It’s not just kids going to see the picture,” he said. “Adults are going as well, and adults without kids.” “Alice” is the first film ever to cross the $100 million mark in the January-to-March period. Its $11.9 million in Imax receipts is also a record, Hollywood.com said.

“There is a halo effect going on in the marketplace from ‘Avatar,’ ” said Greg Foster, Imax’s chairman for filmed entertainment, according to The New York Times. “People who normally don’t go to theaters came out to see that 3-D movie and wanted more.”  “Alice in Wonderland,” adapted by Linda Woolverton from Lewis Carroll, also had little competition. The R-rated thriller “Brooklyn’s Finest” (Overture Films) was the only other movie to receive a broad release over the weekend; it sold $13.5 million for second place.

The weekend's second best performer at the box-office was Overture's "Brooklyn's Finest," Antoine Fuqua's gritty police thriller, which earned $13.5 million in its first weekend, according to studio estimates, AP reports. Martin Scorsese's "Shutter Island" for Paramount followed closely with $13.3 million in its third week of release, bringing its cumulative total to $95.8 million. Warner Bros.'s comedy "Cop Out" came in fourth, adding $9.1 million for a two-week total of $32.4 million.

But "Alice" thoroughly dominated the weekend, surprising even Disney. Worldwide, it took in $210.3 million, according to the same source. It was a record release for the first quarter of the year, typically a time of lower box-office expectations and critically acclaimed Oscar contenders. The previous first quarter record was Mel Gibson's "Passion of the Christ," which opened with $83.8 million in Feb. 2004.

Greg Foster, chairman of filmed entertainment at Imax Corp. said the success of "Alice" shows that "Avatar" had a "halo effect," opening the door for other films that use the technology. "There were a lot of people who weren't really sure what a 3-D movie was," Foster added, The Wall Street Journal informs. "'Avatar' became such a cultural phenomenon. People saw it and they want more 3-D." The film was released by Twentieth Century Fox, a unit of News Corp., which also owns The Wall Street Journal.

Theater owners are still in the process of converting screens to show 3-D movies. "We ran up against a seat issue," said Disney's Viane, according to the same source. "There just aren't enough seats in 3-D yet." The next big 3-D release, "How to Train Your Dragon," from DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc., reaches theaters in three weeks.

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