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Okay, the Kraken has been released. Everyone can go home now.

Kim Hollis: Clash of the Titans, the latest 3D action flick, opened to $63.9 million. Is this a win for Warner Bros.?

Josh Spiegel: Yes and no. On the one hand, the result is hard to sniff at. $64 million is an awesome result, by itself. However, considering that 300, a movie that Clash of the Titans was certainly being marketed as a follow-up to, did better two years ago with no well-known actors, source material that wasn't readily known by mainstream audiences, and no 3-D to boost the prices...this result's not that good. Considering that Warner Bros. went through the 3D postconversion to make more money off of Avatar's success, I'm sure the executives are happy, but they must have been wishing for a number higher than at least Alice in Wonderland.

Michael Lynderey: It leems like just a draw, but that's mostly because Alice in Wonderland has so inflated live-action 3D expectations. If I take that bastion of inexplicability out of my mind ($300 million?!? Really??), the Titans number seems perfectly reasonable. I would have never expected it to make much more money than it has - it's not a summer tentpole picture, it doesn't have any stars or a built-in fanbase, and while the concept promises some entertaining special effects, those effects are really the only draw here. If you factor in some of the unwelcoming reviews, I'd say this is even a best case scenario. But I'm talking about this with that whole 3D thing right out of my mind.





David Mumpower: As to Michael's point about Alice in Wonderland, what amuses me to no end is recalling the pre-release exhibitor threats due to its shortened theatrical-to-video release window. Boy, they really showed Disney. With regards to Clash of the Titans, Josh's point intrigues me in that his theory is that the built-in awareness of Clash of the Titans should have enabled it to do better than 300. Here's my thought. I think it probably had to overcome that association for those who remember Harry Hamlin talking to a tin owl. I have a soft spot for the original, but I also inexorably link it to bad late night programming on HBO. I do not believe the brand recognition here is much of a positive save for the one line, "Release the Kraken". Keeping this in mind, I consider the first 28 hours of release for this project to be a startling triumph. I'm looking forward to tracking whether it's a one day wonder or an even bigger box office achiever.

Michael Lynderey: Is there really built-in awareness for Clash of the Titans, though? I think most of today's mall generation haven't seen it (or possibly even heard of it). I'm a big movie guy, but even I didn't see it until about two years ago.

David Mumpower: Were I ranking the late-70s/early-80s awareness of projects, I'd put Clash of the Titans a bit ahead of Land of the Lost and Speed Racer but behind Tron and well behind The A-Team, which is on a different playing field in terms of awareness. Having said that, based on what I've seen of the projects, I expect Tron to be the biggest opener of this bunch even though I very much enjoy what I've seen of The A-Team thus far.

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