Date Night wins Clash

A couple of NBC Thursday Night comedy stars bested the Clash of the Titans at the box office this weekend in a photo-finish. In an effort to avoid such on embarrassment, Warner Brothers added 25 screens nationwide to Clash’s total, but was still out-distanced by the Steve Carell-Tina Fey rom-com.

Could this send some Warners execs on a desperate Seattle job search? Probably not, but it is a black eye for the mega-pic that, it was hoped, would show staying power similar to other 3D epics like Avatar and Alice In Wonderland.

So has the sheen gone off 3D with Clash’s huge second-week tumble from the top? Probably not, but it does prove you need more than 3D to sell a picture; you need a compelling story, great actors, and a solid director who’s not just wowed by the new 3D tech.

In the end, Date Night appears to have hauled in $27.1 million, while Clash trailed close behind with only $26.8 million; that’s a 56 percent drop, and the only other movie that plummeted faster this week was Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married Too? at 62.4 percent off its first week.

Behind Date Night and Clash, How To Train Your Dragon retained some momentum, bringing in $25.3 million in its third week, a drop of a mere 12 percent or so. Perry’s Married Too flick came in a distant fourth place with only $11 million, while The Last Song brought in $10 million to secure the fifth spot; the Miley Cyrus vehicle has over $42 million in box office to date, more than double its $20 million modest budget.

Nothing else drew more than $5.6 million. But the competition’s about to get a lot tougher. Next week brings us the Chris Rock-Martin Lawrence-Tracy Morgan comedy, Death At a Funeral, as well as the post-modern superhero flick, Kick-Ass, which is opening wide despite a hard R rating. Both films have excellent potential to do well.