Someone get famous horse racing announcer Dave Johnson on the phone. Because with the top three films at the box office separated by less than $2 million, this weekend's race is going to come down to the official box office numbers on Monday. And down the stretch they come! Fix yourself a Mint Julip, because it's time for some weekend receipts.
1. Date Night
Gross: $27,100,000 (new)
Screens: 3,374 (PSA: $8,032)
Weeks: 1
Say hello to Tina Fey, the Queen of April. If Date Night can hold off Clash of the Titans, it will be her third April release in the last six years to grab the top spot (Mean Girls and Baby Mama are the other two). Much was made about how Date Night would disappoint -- and tracking suggested a lower number -- but win or lose, it certainly landed on the high end of expectations. Here's guessing the presence of legitimate movie star Steve Carell didn't hurt.
2. Clash of the Titans
Gross: $26,875,000 ($110,468,000)
Screens: 3,802 (PSA: $7,069)
Weeks: 2 (change: -56.1%)
Following an embarrassing drop on Friday (over 67 percent), many -- Jeffrey Katzenberg, cough -- predicted Clash of the Titans and its prohibitive fake 3D would washout over the weekend. Alas, that wasn't the case. Fun fact: the 56 percent drop for Titans was smaller than the depreciation rates experienced by X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Watchmen and a host of other blockbusters.
3. How to Train Your Dragon
Gross: $25,350,000 ($133,891,000)
Screens: 4,007 (PSA: $6,326)
Weeks: 3 (change: -12.6%)
Forget 3D. Maybe moviegoers just really love dragons. How to Train Your Dragon -- which Dreamworks Animation has taken to calling simply Dragon in a recent spate of TV spots -- dipped an Avatar-like 12 percent and still has an outside shot at landing in the number one slot. Craziness. When people were writing Dragon's obituary two weekends ago, it's doubtful they saw this coming.
4. Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too?
Gross: $11,000,000 ($48,520,000)
Screens: 2,155 (PSA: $5,104)
Weeks: 2 (change: -62.4%)
With a drop like that, you'd think Why Did I Get Married Too? was an effects heavy blockbuster. But nope, it's just your run-of-the-mill Tyler Perry movie.
5. The Last Song
Gross: $10,000,000 ($42,400,000)
Screens: 2,674 (PSA: $3,740)
Weeks: 2 (change: -37.5%)
This week's sign of the impending rain of frogs: Between The Last Song and Dear John, American audiences have spent over $120 million on Nicholas Sparks movies this year.