London's Leicester Square got an ancient Greek makeover on Monday night for the red-carpet premiere of "Clash of the Titans": Gargantuan columns flanked the rain-soaked square, armor-festooned guards stood at the ready and stone warriors, frozen as if by Medusa, lined the carpet. Through this mystical landscape came star Sam Worthington and the rest of the cast and crew, including Gemma Arterton, Alexa Davalos, Mads Mikkelsen, Nicholas Hoult and director Louis Leterrier.
"We're trying to kick it off with a bang," Worthington said. "This is a fun, boisterous movie. It shouldn't be taken too serious. It's a popcorn film. This is the start of the summer blockbusters."
And it's arriving at a dynamic time in Hollywood. Since "Avatar" shattered box-office records, the two 3-D releases of 2010 — "Alice in Wonderland" and "How to Train Your Dragon" — have both shot straight to the #1 box-office spot. With the tantalizing potential for big bucks, "Clash" filmmakers decided to give their film a last minute 3-D conversion. Worthington's big-budget adventure tale — loosely based on the Greek legend of Perseus — seems like a sure thing to become this weekend's box-office winner.
"It's a fantastic thriller going deep into Greek mythology," Mikkelsen said. "It's basically a roller coaster."
And it's a much more expensive and elaborate roller coaster than the1981 original on which this "Clash" is based. The first film has become something of an adventure classic, but two decades on, its age shows in cheesy special effects and often hammy acting. Leterrier and his team set out to honor the '80s film while bringing a Hollywood-size budget to the proceedings.
"There's a tip of the hat to the original throughout," Davalos said. "It was a labor of love to the original. We all really want to honor it. I hope we did that."
Check out everything we've got on"Clash of the Titans."
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