“TITANS” SETS RECORD IN DEBUT

Clash of the Titans accomplished more thrashing than clashing at the box office over the weekend. The film, digitally converted at virtually the last minute to 3D in order to take advantage of premium pricing — a 3D ticket now costs about $5.00 more than a 2D ticket — opened with an estimated $61.4 million over the Easter weekend, setting a record for the holiday. (The previous record for Easter was set in 2006 when Scary Movie 4 opened with $40.2 million). In addition the film earned $3 million in one-shot previews on Thursday, to bring its four-day haul to $64.4 million. There was a virtual three-way tie for second place. “If there was a battle out there, victory is ours,” Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. distribution chief Dan Fellman told today’s (Monday) Los Angeles Times. The relatively low-budget Tyler Perry romantic comedy, Why Did I Get Married Too? earned around $30.2 million, its studio, Lionsgate, said. The figure was well above projections and would be about a million more than Paramount/DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon, which the studio figured would earn $29.2 million, down a modest 43 percent from last weekend, when the final total was calculated later today. Miley Cyrus’s The Last Song from Disney earned $16.2 million for the weekend, but around $25.6 million for the five-day holiday. (Unlike the others, it opened on Wednesday.) But early estimates are based on actual grosses for Friday and Saturday and on educated guesses for Sunday — and Sunday receipts for family films, as all three of the rivals for second place are, are notoriously difficult to predict. It was made especially difficult by the fact that the NCAA basketball finals on television likely drew millions of dads away from theaters.

The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Box Office Mojo:
1. Clash of the Titans, $61.4 million; 2. Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married Too?, $30.2 million; 3. How to Train Your Dragon, $29.2 million; 4. The Last Song, $16.2 million; 5. Alice in Wonderland, $8.3 million; 6. Hot Tub Time Machine, $8 million; 7. The Bounty Hunter, $6.2 million; 8. Diary of a Wimpy Kid, $5.5 million; 9. She’s Out of My League, $1.463 million; 10. Shutter Island, $1.462 million.

UPDATE:
Despite the variables, final box-office figures indicated that the top films came in pretty much as predicted. Clash of the Titans led with $61.24 million. Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married Too? came in second with $29.29 million, edging out the second week of How to Train Your Dragon, which dropped just 34 percent to $29.01 million. In fourth place, The Last Song earned $16.1 million for the three-day weekend and $25.4 million from Wednesday.