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 Well, ‘the final numbers’ are in for last weekend’s box office…

AND GUESS WHAT?!

Somebody played ‘liar’s poker’ with the estimates – so to speak. Because in the final analysis, much-derided (but apparently popular) “Clash of the Titans” retained #1 position, while the pretender to the box office throne, to coin a phrase, “Date Night,” dropped to #2 when their estimate of $27.1 million actually turned out to be $25.2 million. That’s nearly $2 million off… Is it studio spin – or really, really bad addition? I think anyone who understands how the movie business works knows it’s the former and not the latter.

 

For its part, “Clash of the Titans” was relatively conservative in its ‘upward’ estimation, coming in with a final box office draw of $26.6 million, versus their weekend estimated total of $26.9 million. Even still, having the movie hold on to the number one slot for another week is a feather in actor Sam Worthington’s cap, and you can bet his agent is already using the ‘corrected’ box office chart as proof his client sells movie tickets.

 

Getting credit for the most accurate ‘estimating’ is “Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married Too,” which presented an estimate that underreported the movie’s gross by a mere $17 thousand.

 

And MGM underreported as well – and Disney over-estimated, so “Hot Tub Time Machine” and “Alice in Wonderland” switched positions on the box office chart, flipping Monday’s reported #6 and #7 films: now the Lion’s on top of Alice, to conjure a strange image. 

Liar’s Poker, indeed. Gotta love Hollywood – it embraces artifice not just in its films, but in its bookkeeping as well!