For the second week in a row, the apparent winner of the weekend box office derby, which is based on studio estimates, was overturned.  Dreamworks’ overly optimistic predictions for the Sunday shows of How to Train Your Dragon failed to materialize and Lionsgate’s Kick-Ass took the weekend crown with a final tally of $19.8 million compared with Dragon’s revised weekend total of $19.6 million.

In recent years a lot of importance has been attached to being “the box office winner,” and the results are reported heavily across many media channels on Sunday night.  Kick-Ass, which didn’t live up to the overly optimistic predictions of a number of box office analysts, and has thus been viewed as something of a disappointment, surely could have used the distinction of “box office winner” that it was denied. Does anybody read corrections?

Kick-Ass has done well in the U.K. and Australia where it has made nearly as much as it brought in on its U.S. debut.  The modestly budgeted film is certain to make a profit, which by itself is enough to make it a success compared with the majority of films.  It has also inspired more sales of more copies of a single graphic novel than any Marvel movie so far, in spite of the fact that the tie-in graphic novel is a $25 hardcover. Kick-Ass, which opened earlier overseas, has displayed good “legs” in those markets, which means that it has a chance to be a strong holdover in the North American market if it develops good word-of-mouth.

One thing Kick-Ass’s belated victory did accomplish—for the first time in seven weeks a conventional 2D film has wrested the box office crown away from its extra-dimensional competition.