Well, there you go: “Clash of the Titans”, marketed as the Next Big Movie, became the Next Big Movie with an opening weekend gross of $61.4 million — or $64.1 million, if you count the Thursday night screenings.

I’m kind of surprised by the way the movie’s fared with critics, honestly. I mean, it’s not great cinema or anything, but it’s a well-crafted entertainment, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much it improves on the now-quaint original. The venom being directed at such an unpretentious production seems disproportionate … though I guess the other option is to go too far in the other direction, and treat it as a camp artifact without waiting for the ironic distance to form. (Though that approach does result in fun pieces like this.)

Maybe it helps that I saw it in good old two-dimensional 35mm; most of the griping I’ve read comes from people who’ve seen it in 3D, which seems to make for a pretty disappointing experience.

Or maybe it’s just that the Kraken in this version looks like the Cloverfield monster’s stroppy older brother. I’ll give ’em that one.