Clash of the Titans Box Office: Sam Worthington 3D Fantasy Underwhelms

Clash of the Titans with Sam Worthington: The domestic box office gods are none too impressed.

Clash of the Titans box office: Starring Sam Worthington of Avatar fame, costly fantasy epic has left the (domestic) gods underwhelmed

April 2–4 weekend box office: Starring Avatar hero Sam Worthington as the Greek demigod Perseus, Louis Leterrier’s Warner Bros.-distributed Clash of the Titans grossed $61.2 million in North America (U.S. and Canada only) over the Easter Weekend, according to final studio figures found at boxofficemojo.com.

After adding its $2.7 million Thursday night take, the 3D-converted fantasy adventure has collected a total of $63.9 million – about 52 percent of which from 3D screens.

Sounds like an impressive figure?

Well, just bear in mind that costlier 3D tickets – compounded with last week’s across-the-board (up to 25 percent) movie- ticket-price hike – helped this $165 million production reach that mid-to-upper-echelon figure, even while actual attendance numbers may have left the demanding Greek gods somewhat underwhelmed.

For comparison’s sake: Clash of the Titans took in $16,212 per theater over the weekend proper. Back in March, when ticket prices were lower than today, Tim Burton’s 3D fantasy adventure Alice in Wonderland boasted a $31,143 average, while last December James Cameron’s 3D futuristic adventure Avatar debuted with $22,313 per venue.

First movie made worse by 3D?

Ultimately, for Clash of the Titans to recover its budget (plus marketing and distribution expenses), Sam Worthington’s Perseus will – pardon the puns – need some herculean staying power at the domestic box office and some Olympian-sized international revenues.

The (sorta) upside: Comments such as those by Los Angeles Times critic Kenneth Turan – e.g., “When the most thrilling thing about a film turns out to be its title, even unleashing the Kraken won’t be payoff enough” – shouldn’t make Clash of the Titans’s target audience less willing to check it out. After all, these types of movies are critic-proof.

The downside: If many moviegoers were to agree with another Turan comment – “It’s doubtful that records are kept about this sort of thing, but consider the possibility that Clash of the Titans is the first film to actually be made worse by being in 3-D” – then Warner Bros. would have a serious problem.

Clash of the Titans cast

Besides Sam Worthington, the Clash of the Titans cast includes Oscar nominees Ralph Fiennes, Liam Neeson, Pete Postlethwaite, and Elizabeth McGovern, plus Gemma Arterton, Nicholas Hoult, Alexa Davalos, Liam Cunningham, Ian Whyte, Jason Flemyng, and Mads Mikkelsen.

Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Desmond Davis’ star-studded 1981 Clash of the Titans featured Harry Hamlin, Judi Bowker, Susan Fleetwood, Tim Pigott-Smith, and veterans Laurence Olivier, Claire Bloom, Maggie Smith, Ursula Andress, Burgess Meredith, Flora Robson, Sian Phillips, Freda Jackson, and Donald Houston.

Another veteran, Ray Harryhausen (The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Jason and the Argonauts), handled the stop-motion visual effects.

Clash of the Titans 2010 with Sam Worthington as the demigod Perseus.

Second weekend box office: Top spot flip-flop

April 9–11 weekend box office update: Early studio estimates had the new Steve Carell-Tina Fey comedy Date Night atop the U.S. and Canada chart. That was inaccurate.

As per final studio figures, Clash of the Titans took in $26.6 million (down 56 percent) on weekend no. 2 vs. Date Night’s $25.2 million (about $2 million less than estimates indicated).

It’s now clear that Clash of the Titans – total: $110.2 million – will pass the $150 million milestone in the domestic market; however, it’s just as clear that it will have a whole lot of trouble reaching $200 million. The overseas market is thus the great box office hope for this Warner release.

International moviegoers made Clash of the Titans sequel a reality

Update II: Clash of the Titans ultimately collected $163.2 million domestically and a whopping $330 million internationally, for a worldwide total of $493.2 million. That explains the 2012 sequel Wrath of the Titans.

For comparison’s sake: Budgeted at $15 million, the original Clash of the Titans grossed a somewhat disappointing $41.1 million domestically (or around $116 million in 2010). Its worldwide take was reportedly around $70 million. There would be no sequels.

The 2010 Clash of the Titans’ top international markets were the United Kingdom ($29.2 million), Russia/CIS ($24.6 million), Mexico ($20.5 million), France ($19.3 million), South Korea ($19.2 million), Australia ($17 million), Japan ($16.3 million), Brazil ($16.2 million), Germany ($14.7 million), Spain ($14.6 million), and Italy ($10.3 million).

Tyler Perry flick has solid debut but goes downhill fast

Also debuting on the weekend of April 2–4 were Tyler Perry’s comedy-drama Why Did I Get Married Too and, discussed in more detail further below, the Miley Cyrus-Liam Hemsworth romantic melodrama The Last Song.

Featuring Perry, Janet Jackson, Sharon Leal, and Michael Jai White, the Lionsgate-distributed Why Did I Get Married Too scored a solid $29.2 million (about $5–$10 million above expectations) from 2,155 locations – or $13,991 per theater without the assistance of 3D-inflated ticket prices.

For comparison’s sake: The poorly received 2007 original, Why Did I Get Married, featuring many of the actors found in the sequel, opened with a far more modest $21.3 million, eventually reaching $55.2 million domestically (and less than $1 million internationally).

Note of caution: The sequel wasn’t screened for most critics. Not a good sign.

Update: As expected, Why Did I Get Married Too plummeted (down 62 percent) on weekend no. 2. It eventually brought in $60.1 million domestically and, like other Tyler Perry movies (if they get any screenings at all), less than $1 million internationally (to be more exact, $578,000 – nearly all of it, $559,000, from South Africa).

The Last Song with Liam Hemsworth and Miley Cyrus.

The Last Song box office: Miley Cyrus & Liam Hemsworth romance opens at lower end of expectations

At no. 4 (also trailing How to Train Your Dragon’s $29 million) on the domestic chart, the Walt Disney Studios’ The Last Song brought in $16 million from 2,673 locations, landing it at the lower end of expectations.

Based on a Nicholas Sparks novel and costarring Oscar nominee Greg Kinnear (As Good as It Gets, 1997), The Last Song raked in $25.4 million on its first five days. (The movie opened on Wednesday.) That may not be too bad for a $20 million production, but it’s hardly a figure worth celebrating.

For comparison’s sake: In February, Lasse Hallström’s Dear John, another melodramatic romance based on a Sparks novel (and featuring a similar poster), debuted with $30.3 million (first three days). Starring Amanda Seyfried and a shirtless Channing Tatum, Dear John went on to gross $79.4 million at the U.S. and Canada box office.

Despite hunky Liam Hemsworth also going shirtless, prospects for The Last Song are far more humble.

Lastly, a brief remark about Atom Egoyan’s Chloe, a $14 million psychological mystery drama that – notwithstanding the presence of the aforementioned Amanda Seyfried, four-time Oscar nominee Julianne Moore, and Clash of the Titans’ Liam Neeson – has raked in a mere $1.8 million domestically in the last 10 days. Also in the cast: Max Thieriot and Nina Dobrev.

The Last Song became an international dud

Update: The Last Song eventually reached a modest – but possibly profitable – $63 million in the U.S. and Canada, in addition to a meager $26.2 million internationally, for a worldwide total of $89.1 million.

The Last Song’s biggest international markets were Germany and Australia (each with nearly $6.1 million), followed by the United Kingdom/Ireland ($2.8 million).

Chloe’s domestic total was $3.1 million; internationally (possibly incomplete), it took in $10.6 million. Worldwide total: $13.7 million – an amount that failed to as much as match its modest budget.

Chloe’s biggest international markets were Spain ($1.4 million) and Russia/CIS ($1 million).

“Clash of the Titans Box Office: Sam Worthington” endnotes

Unless otherwise noted, “Clash of the Titans Box Office: Sam Worthington 3D Fantasy Underwhelms” box office information via Box Office Mojo. Budget info – which should be taken with a grain of salt – via BOM and/or other sources (e.g., the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Screen Daily, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Deadline.com, etc.).

Comments about Clash of the Titans, Why Did I Get Married Too, The Last Song, Chloe, and other titles being hits/profitable or flops/money-losers at the box office (see paragraph below) are based on the available data about their production budget, additional marketing and distribution expenses (as a general rule of thumb, around 50 percent of the production cost), and worldwide gross (as a general rule of thumb when it comes to the Hollywood studios, around 50–55 percent of the domestic gross and 40 percent of the international gross goes to the distributing/producing companies).

Bear in mind that data regarding rebates, domestic/international sales/pre-sales, and other credits and/or contractual details that help to alleviate/split production costs and apportion revenues are oftentimes unavailable, and that reported international grosses may be incomplete (i.e., not every territory is fully – or even partially – accounted for).

Also bear in mind that ancillary revenues (domestic/global television rights, home video sales, streaming, merchandising, etc.) can represent anywhere between 40–70 percent of a movie’s total take. However, these revenues and their apportionment are only infrequently made public.

Lastly, although a more accurate reflection of a film’s popularity (i.e., its number of tickets sold), inflation-adjusted estimates should be taken with extreme caution. For instance, they’re based on average domestic ticket prices (via the National Association of Theater Owners, unless otherwise noted) whereas numerous major releases scored a large chunk of their box office take at top-priced venues.

Clash of the Titans 1981 budget and worldwide gross via the American Film Institute website.

Sam Worthington Clash of the Titans 2010 movie images: Warner Bros.

Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth The Last Song movie image: Walt Disney Pictures.

“Clash of the Titans Box Office: Sam Worthington 3D Fantasy Underwhelms” last updated in October 2022.