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‘Date Night’ falls behind ‘Clash’ in weekend box office tally

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In the end it wasn’t much of a clash at the top of the box office charts after all.

With final ticket sales for the weekend calculated, 20th Century Fox turned out to have significantly overestimated the performance of its Steve Carell-Tina Fey romantic comedy ‘Date Night.’

The studio said Sunday morning that the film would sell $27.1 million worth of tickets in the U.S. and Canada from Friday through that day, putting it slightly ahead of Warner Bros.’ estimate of $26.9 million for ‘Clash of the Titans.’

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Most competitors didn’t agree, however. At least three studios not involved with either film estimated that ‘Clash’ had in fact grossed more.

On Monday morning, Fox said the final take for ‘Date Night’ this weekend was $25.2 million. Domestic distribution president Bruce Snyder attributed the shortfall in part to adult audiences staying home to watch Tiger Woods competing in the Masters golf tournament.

The actual weekend gross for ‘Clash of the Titans,’ meanwhile, was $26.7 million, giving it a comfortable first-place spot. However, because many people saw ‘Clash’ on 3-D screens, which carry a ticket price surcharge, more moviegoers actually attended ‘Date Night.’

‘How to Train Your Dragon’ ended up slightly behind both films with a final gross of $24.9 million, down only 14% from the previous weekend.

-- Ben Fritz

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