Third 'Clash Of The Titans' Installment Greenlit

One day, news like this will bite Hollywood square enough in the ass to leave teeth imprints.

So on April 2, 2010, Warner Bros. released "Clash of the Titans," its remake of the 1981 Greeks-Versus-Gods cult favorite of the same name.

Thanks in no small part to promotion on the back of a wide 3D release, the Sam Worthington/Liam Neeson-led epic made an impressive $493.2 million off a $125-million budget despite being thoroughly drubbed by critics.

Rottentomatoes.com lists it as having received only 29-percent positive reviews from critics and it has a weighted Metacritic average hovering near 39 out of a possible 100.

So naturally, it would get a sequel. If "Transformers" and "The Fast And The Furious" proved anything, it's that even if critics didn't particularly like something, money is the language that rises above all others. "Wrath of the Titans" hits theaters everywhere March 30, 2012. Not bad, considering that even the original didn't merit a sequel.

But here's what'll really bake your ziti: a third "Clash Of The Titans" installment has been greenlit and targeted for 2013, according to The Hollywood Reporter. "Wrath" co-writers Dan Mazeau and David Leslie Johnson have been tapped to write the script. Insiders claim that a "Wrath" sidekick-type character named Agenor played by Toby Kebbell could become a pivotal character within a third story.

In all fairness, once upon a time, this wouldn't have seemed so outlandish. Some stories have paid off fantastically being told with three acts. No matter what conventional opinion says, I think that "The Godfather Part III" rounded out the Corleone saga just fine and gave the whole series closure.

The first three "Star Wars" movies told that archetypal maturation story so well that not only is the third movie highly regarded despite not being seen as equal to the first two, but it's probably still better than all three prequels combined. More recently, it was even after the third "Saw" installment that the franchise started losing steam as the story became less coherent and started spreading thinner and thinner.

But in all fairness, those were three series that all started with beloved first installments. While "Clash of the Titans" will apparently be a coherent, three-act story from the sounds of it, making a sequel on the back of a critically panned movie is risky enough. After a while, those bad reviews start sinking in.

And remember, Metacritic's score was weighted with fan opinions, too. Going ahead with starting up a third movie before your second has hit theaters? That's beyond ballsy. The "Transformers" franchise, panned by critics and mocked by fans alike, at least waits to see each movie's bottom line before announcing that more good money will be thrown after increasingly bad.

But still, if this show must go on, learn something from other franchises: don't make a sequel just because the returns haven't started diminishing yet. Make sure there's actually a coherent story you can tell across all three movies. "Pirates Of The Caribbean" might've become a mess by the third film, but it at least wrapped up that story arc definitively. "Paranormal Activity 3," on the other hand, was admittedly written and edited during production and it shows in the many ways continuity was altered or outright thrown out the window.

Worse, it could end up like some slasher or horror franchises that start making sequels not because there's a story that can be continued, but because the franchise keeps making money.

This move takes guts, Warner Bros. Just make sure you're measuring twice before you cut once.