Sam Worthington as Perseus in a scene from Clash of the Titans
Storming the screen with plenty of muscle — and some steroids in the form of a last-minute 3-D version on about 1,500 screens — Clash of the Titans was No. 1 at the North American box office with $61.4 million, according to early studio estimates. The Greek-myth epic topped the previous best Easter weekend entry, 2006's Scary Movie 4, by about 50%. (Clash's $135 million budget was three times as high as SM4's.) But the movie earned about $10 million less than Fast and Furious, which opened on this (non-Easter) weekend last year, and about $9 million less than the opening weekend take of 300, the antique-Greek saga whose success three years ago surely inspired Warner Bros. to remake the original, 1981 version of Clash.
In a weekend that saw about a 35% jump in ticket sales from last Easter, the mass audience gifted the new releases with nice, colorful eggs. One-man indie conglomerate writer-director-star Tyler Perry reunited with Janet Jackson for Why Did I Get Married Too, which pulled in $30.2 million — far above the three-day tally for the 2007 original. This is the fourth $30 million–plus opening for a Perry movie, though the revenue usually drops quickly in succeeding weeks. (His last four films earned at least 45% of their total take in the first three days.) Spending just $20 million a pop on raucous, sentimental, semi-sacred comedies and melodramas that enthrall his mostly African-American fans twice a year, Perry deserves to be dubbed Tyler the Titan.
Miley Cyrus, another moneymaker whose films are pretty much off the blockbuster radar, enjoyed a decent opening of $16.2 million, and $25.6 million for its first five days, for The Last Song. With the same learn-to-love-your-daddy plot as her Hannah Montana: The Movie hit from last spring, the new picture is based on a screenplay and novel by Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook, Dear John), the go-to guy for young-adult weepies. Once a princess of the Disney Channel, Cyrus has generated more than a quarter-billion dollars with her first three movies (the Hannah Montana concert film and movie, plus the animated feature Bolt, for which she was the lead female voice). Not bad for a kid who won't turn 18 until Nov. 23.
Clash was the third new stereoptic release in a month, after Alice in Wonderland (now well past $300 million at home, and at $672.8 million worldwide) and last weekend's topper, How to Train Your Dragon (already closing in on $100 million domestic). Apparently audiences are insatiable for movies for which they have to wear goggles. The Hollywood bosses like them too, since they can charge an extra $3 or $4 per ticket for the privilege of seeing a movie like Clash that is retrofitted with no other purpose than greed. This time, audiences responded to the saturation marketing campaign and ignored the mostly negative reviews. (Perhaps they read TIME's contrarian review of Clash of the Titans and decided to give the movie a try.) The Friday-to-Saturday drop for Clash, from $26.4 million to $21.6 million, might be attributed to mediocre word of mouth or preoccupation by the movie's core male audience with the NCAA men's Final Four. (Go, Butler!)
Viewers addicted to 3-D are going to have to wait another seven weeks for the next one, Shrek Forever After. In the meantime, they'll just have to rewatch Alice, Dragon and Clash. Hey, movie exhibitors: Care to bring back Avatar?
Here are the weekend's top-grossing pictures in North American theaters, as reported by Box Office Mojo:
1. Clash of the Titans, $61.4 million, first weekend
2. Why Did I Get Married Too, $30.2 million, first weekend
3. How to Train Your Dragon, $29.2 million; $92.3 million, second week
4. The Last Song, $16.2 million; $25.6 million, first five days
5. Alice in Wonderland, $8.3 million; $309.8 million, fifth week
6. Hot Tub Time Machine, $8 million; $27.8 million, second week
7. The Bounty Hunter, $6.2 million; $49 million, third week
8. Diary of a Wimpy Kid, $5.5 million; $46.2 million, third week
9. She's Out of My League, $1.463 million; $28.7 million, fourth week
10. Shutter Island, $1.462 million; $123.4 million, seventh week