Alice in Wonderland boots Avatar off UK box office top spot.

(From Guardian Unlimited)

The winner A week ago, no film released in 2010 had grossed GBP10m. The three big hitters of January and February -- Avatar , Sherlock Holmes and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel -- were all released in 2009. But that's all changed with the arrival of Disney's Alice in Wonderland , which exploded on to the nation's screens with three-day takings of GBP10.56m. This is the third-biggest opening ever for a Disney film (behind the second and third Pirates of the Caribbean pictures), and the best-ever debut for a March release. It's also the biggest-ever opening for a 3D film, ahead of Avatar's GBP8.51m. The previous biggest debut for a Tim Burton picture was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (GBP7.97m), which similarly benefited from being based on a much-loved British literary classic and from the presence of star Johnny Depp. Charlie went on to gross GBP37.8m in the UK, and if Alice were to achieve a similar multiple of …