THE NEW MOVIE STAR CHAMP (BUT DOES ANYONE KNOW HIS NAME?)

By Zeus! Sam Worthington has suddenly become the demigod star of the 21st century. After all, not only did his performance in Avatar produce all-time box-office records, but he has just set another record in the lead role in Clash of the Titans, which debuted with an estimated $61.4 million — $64.1 million if Thursday-night previews are included — the most any film has ever earned over an Easter weekend, according to Warner Bros. Of course, 3D screenings may have played a supporting role of their own in helping Worthington shine (certainly audiences didn’t flock to the theaters to see the Kraken, did they?), but Warner’s was quick to point out that 3D venues accounted for only 52 percent of the movie’s gross. With two other 3D blockbusters, How to Train Your Dragon and Allice in Wonderland, fighting to hold on to as many 3D screens as they could, just 42 percent of theaters showing Titans did so in 3D. Moreover, Worthington also starred in the non-3D hit Terminator: Salvation last year. No, as Roger Moore pointed out in his review of Titans: “Worthington is emerging as the new Charlton Heston — an actor big enough to fill a big screen with his bigness.” Manohla Dargis in the New York Times called him “Russell Crowe 2.0.” Then again, some writers have pointed out that most moviegoers would have difficulty coming up with the name of the star of Terminator: Salvation, Avatar, and Clash of the Titans. Those writers suggest that Worthington enroll in charisma classes. As Ty Burr remarked in the Boston Globe: “Could somebody at least sit this man down in front of an Errol Flynn movie?”