Weekend Report: ‘Date’ Might Draws, ‘Titans’ Fall, ‘Dragon’ Gets Stoked

Clash of the Titans

April 11, 2010

It's a photo finish weekend based on studio estimates: Date Night came in at $27.1 million, while Clash of the Titans was just $225,000 behind with $26.9 million, and How to Train Your Dragon was still in the mix with $25.4 million. With sizable showings from three movies, overall business was on the high end for mid-April, albeit down a touch from the same period last year.

Each day of the weekend could end up having a different No. 1 movie: Date Night led Friday with $9.3 million, Clash of the Titans topped Saturday with $11.2 million, and, if studio projections pan out, How to Train Your Dragon capped Sunday with $7.8 million. Date Night's Friday performance has given it an edge for the weekend as a whole, but Clash could still pull this out because Date's Sunday projection was relatively more bullish than Clash's. As close as the two movies were, there have been closer photo finishes in the past. Check back here Monday afternoon, when actual grosses will be reported, to see how this precisely pans out.

Regardless of where its weekend rank winds up, Date Night's opening on approximately 4,600 screens at 3,374 venues was well above average compared to similar movies. It exceeded The Bounty Hunter's opening last month, and it quadrupled the debut of Did You Hear About the Morgans?. Date Night had a relatable, clearly-conveyed premise of a married couple looking to spice up their routine with a night on the town, only to be mistaken for another couple; action-comedy hijinks ensue. The casting of Steve Carell and Tina Fey (along with a bunch of familiar faces in small roles) seemed to help put the picture over the top. The movie's weekend attendance was the equivalent of a third to a half of the regular audience for the stars' television comedies, Carell's The Office and Fey's 30 Rock, which air back-to-back on Thursday nights. Distributor 20th Century Fox' exit polling indicated that 60 percent of the audience was over 25 years old, while 52 percent was female, playing to a lot of couples.

Clash of the Titans retreated by 56 percent, which was a steeper-than-average fall and worse than 300's 54 percent drop in its second weekend. Despite the 3D boost, which accounted for about 50 percent of its weekend business, Clash's $110.5 million ten-day haul trails 300's $129.2 million.

How to Train Your Dragon, on the other hand, had the best hold of the weekend among nationwide releases, easing 13 percent and lifting its total to $133.9 million in 17 days. Playing at 2,165 3D sites compared to Clash's 1,632, nearly 65 percent of its weekend gross was from 3D showings. At its current pace, Dragon could out-gross the $198.4 million total of Monsters Vs. Aliens, another DreamWorks Animation 3D event that also had a late March launch last year, despite having a significantly smaller debut: $43.7 million versus $59.3 million.

Why Did I Get Married Too? fell off a cliff in its second weekend, posting one of Tyler Perry's steepest drops. Down 62 percent, the ensemble comedy sequel bagged an estimated $11 million, lifting its total to $48.5 million in ten days. Its predecessor was off 43 percent at the same point, but the sequel is still on track to surpass that picture's $55.2 million final haul.

Aside from Clash of the Titans and Why Did I Get Married Too?, the rest of the nationwide holdovers generally seemed to enjoy the breathing room of having only one major new release to share screens with. The Last Song eased 38 percent to an estimated $10 million, growing its total to $42.4 million in 12 days. The teen romance held better than the last Nicholas Sparks adaptation, Dear John, and much better than Hannah Montana The Movie, though it's made less through the same point.

Alice in Wonderland had its slightest decline yet, down 32 percent to an estimated $5.6 million, and its total is $319.3 million in 38 days, ranking as Walt Disney Pictures' fourth highest-grossing movie ever. Hot Tub Time Machine dipped 32 percent to an estimated $5.4 million for a $37 million tally in 17 days. The Bounty Hunter nabbed an estimated $4.3 million, slipping only 29 percent for a $56 million total in 24 days. Diary of a Wimpy Kid's ceased its rapid descent, off a mere 23 percent to an estimated $4.1 million for a $53.8 million tally in 24 days.

The weekend also had two fairly broad debuts that failed: Christian drama Letters to God was returned to sender, grossing an estimated $1.25 million at 897 sites, while The Black Waters of Echo's Pond were quite shallow, making an estimated $250,000 at 404 sites. Also in limited release, High-profile The Runaways re-expanded to 204 locations (not nationwide as its publicity professed), but only mustered an estimated $470,000. That brings its total to $2.5 million in 24 days, making it one of the least-attended music biographies on record.