Box Office - 'Clash of the Titans' Earns $64 Million

In like a lion, out like a lamb. That's the opening weekend for Clash of the Titans, which roared with $26 million on Friday and immediately lost steam, taking in $35 million the rest of the way. Counting a couple million bucks on Thursday, that grand total is an estimated $64 million, which is exactly what we projected on Thursday. In an ordinary environment, that would be a good start. However, we don't know what percentage of that amount is 3-D ticket sales and if it's like last week's How to Train Your Dragon results (two-thirds of which were 3-D), this $64 million is decidedly less impressive. Is it a bomb? No. Should it give Warner Bros. cause to rethink putting every one of its tentpoles in 3-D? Yes. After all, a lot of these 3-D announcements didn't follow Avatar, but Alice in Wonderland. Well, the last two weekends saw big studio movies that combined couldn't do the business Alice did. It isn't the 3-D that's selling the tickets. Tyler Perry had a good weekend, and he almost always does. But Why Did I Get Married Too? is his best non-Madea opening, and to take in $30 million in 2,100 theaters is very impressive. No question, Perry and Lionsgate have found a formula that works. Its per-screen average was a very healthy $14,000, and that's without 3-D or a ton of advertising. In my mind, it's probably the weekend's real winner. Why Did I Get Married has already turned a profit and should have a good three weeks ahead of it, better than Titans will on a relative scale. Miley Cyrus got a jump on the weekend with The Last Song opening on Wednesday. Since then, it's made $25 million, but only $16 million of that came on the weekend. Like Tyler Perry, this business is based on a brand, although I suspect as Cyrus reaches adulthood, that brand will need some refining. It's already showing signs of slowing down, but Last Song did OK. I was surprised by How to Train Your Dragon. If you look at the weekday numbers from last week, they actually looked stronger than its opening weekend would indicate. Somehow, it only lost 33% this time around, which is surprising given the 3-D competition. A $29 million second weekend will probably help Dragon slowly build toward profitability, but that's still going to be a stretch based on last year's Monsters vs. Aliens example. The Top Five:
1 - Clash of the Titans ($64 million)
2 - Why Did I Get Married Too? ($30.1 million)
3 - How to Train Your Dragon ($29.2 million)
4 - The Last Song ($16.2 million)
5 - Alice in Wonderland ($8.2 million)

Comments

[Honz Brix]

What surprised me was How to Train Your Dragon only doing $18 million on Saturday and Sunday combined. Don't family animated movies do better on Saturday and Sunday than they do on Friday. I know alot of people didn't have school Friday but after it did over $11 million on Friday i was expecting a $35 - $40 million weekend