Summer got off to an early start with the special-effects-laden snorefest “Clash of the Titans” taking in $61 million at the box office this weekend. It’s not a bad start, especially for a film that should do well overseas, but it’s not a “300”-level success. The Zack Snyder testosterone-fueled film made $71 million in its opening weekend, without getting a boost from 3D tickets (though it did get IMAX money). Plus, “300” was made for a seemingly small $65 million, while “Clash” cost almost twice as much to produce. It should still earn its money back, but we’re hoping it won’t signal the start of a flood of 3D-enriched sword-and-sandal epics. Could the producers of “Conan” and “Red Sonja” already be scrambling for ways to incorporate stuff flying at you into their films?
In second place is Tyler Perry’s “Why Did I Get Married, Too?” with $30 million. This is the director’s biggest non-Madea film opening, besting “Why Did I Get Married”‘s first-week take of $21 million. In his entire filmography, the sequel arrives behind only “Madea Goes to Jail,” which featured the multi-hyphenate’s largest focus on the sassy woman yet. What’s most important here is that the budget was only $20 million, so Lionsgate will continue to make money off the the director. However, Perry steps away from his two-film-a-year schedule to take some extra time for the adaptation of the lauded play “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf,” which won’t be released until 2011.
To earn the bronze, “How to Train Your Dragon” only dropped 33% to bring in another $29 million, bringing its total to $92 million. It’s not making money quite as fast as its DreamWorks predecessor “Monster Vs. Aliens,” but this slower decline is a good sign for the film, which is the best-reviewed release out right now, including Oscar holdovers such as “Avatar” and “Crazy Heart.” It’s worth saying that these are numbers only usually achieved by Pixar. We’re not contending that DreamWorks will become quite the creative force that Pixar is (after all there’s “Shrek Forever After”), but we hope this isn’t a fluke.
Fourth place belongs to the Nicholas Sparks-Miley Cyrus tearjerker “The Last Song,” which earned $16 million over the weekend and almost $26 million since its Wednesday opening. We can’t imagine a more vomit-inducing combo than the Disney star and the master of melodrama, but apparently, not everyone feels the same. We’re all for differences of opinion, but $26 million? At least Billy Ray wasn’t involved….
The rest of the top ten plays out as expected, with box-office behemoth “Alice in Wonderland” passing $300 million for a soft landing in fifth place. The surprisingly solid “Hot Tub Time Machine” gets another $8 million in laughs and only dropped 43% in its second week. Not too shabby for a film carried by the ever-so-awesome Rob Corddry and Craig Robinson (seriously, go see it, it’s probably the best mainstream movie in theaters right now). “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” continues to make Fox money with another $5.5 million, making news of a sequel even less surprising.
In the world of limited releases, reality-driven romance “Breaking Upwards” scored with $15,300 on a single screen, while Michel Gondry’s documentary “The Thorn in the Heart” earned $6,135 at one New York location. Out of the openers, “The Greatest” (which would look an awful lot like a Nicholas Sparks movie if it weren’t for Susan Sarandon and Playlist favorite Carey Mulligan) opened the widest with eight screens in New York and Los Angeles, but it doesn’t impress with $37,000. We still love you, Carey.
In expansions, “Greenberg” gained five screens and $742,000, bringing its total to $2.3 million, while “Chloe” lost five screens in just its second week and made $584,000. “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” expanded to 87 screens, and passed the $1 million mark. The Swedish adaptation of the bestselling novel is indie distributor Music Box’s second-biggest moneymaker ever, trailing another thriller adaptation, “Tell No One.” Check out the full indie report at our friends indieWire’s wrap-up.
1. Clash of the Titans – $61.4 million ($61.4 mil.)
2. Why Did I Get Married, Too? – $30.2 million ($30.2 mil.)
3. How to Train Your Dragon – $29.2 million ($92.3 mil.)
4. The Last Song – $16.2 million ($25.6 mil.)
5. Alice in Wonderland – $8.3 million ($310 mil.)
6. Hot Tub Time Machine – $8 million ($27.8 mil.)
7. The Bounty Hunter – $6.2 million ($49 mil.)
8. Diary of a Wimpy Kid – $5.5 million ($46.2 mil.)
9. She’s Out of My League – $1.5 million ($28.7 mil.)
10. Shutter Island – $1.5 million ($123 mil.)