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Clash of the Titans (2010) is remake of Clash of the Titans (1981), which itself is loosely based on the myth of the legendary Greek hero Perseus. The screenplay has gone through at least four different drafts, the first by writers John Glenn and Travis Wright. That first draft was rewritten by screenwriter Travis Beacham, whose draft was again rewritten by screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan. Finally, writers Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi took over and produced a fourth rewrite. A sequel, Wrath of the Titans (2012), was released in 2012.

In Greek mythology, the Titans were 12 children of the earth goddess Gaia and the sky god Uranus. Their story appears at the beginning of the movie when it explains that they ruled the earth until they were overthrown by their own children Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades.

The remake tells essentially the same story (i.e., Perseus (Sam Worthington), cast as a baby upon the water by his grandfather but rescued and raised by a fisherman, obtains the Pegasus and slays the Medusa (Natalia Vodianova) in order to save the princess Andromeda (Alexa Davalos) from being eaten by the Kraken), but many of the details and special effects have been altered to appeal to a modern audience. In the original, the characters of Andromeda and Calibos have much larger roles. Characters like Poseidon, Ammon, Pegasus, Hera, and Thetis, who played key parts in the original, either do not appear or have much smaller roles in the remake. Characters in the remake, like Draco (Mads Mikkelsen), Hades (Ralph Fiennes), Io (Gemma Arterton), and the harpies, do not appear at all in the original. Andromeda, not Io, is Perseus's love interest in the original. The original also ends with Perseus marrying Andromeda and becoming king, something he rejects in the remake. Some things the two films have in common are the visit to the Stygian witches, the scorpion attack, the battle with Medusa, the final battle with the Kraken, and the fact that Perseus is the son of Zeus (Liam Neeson).

The Kraken is a legendary Scandinavian sea monster, so huge and horrifying that it could capsize ships and eat the crew. It's thought that the legend of the Kraken may be based on the many-armed giant squid or possibly a colossal octopus. The Kraken does not appear in Greek mythology and was borrowed for this movie.

It is loosely based on the story of Perseus. The story goes that Acrisius, king of Argos, asked the Oracle of Delphi how he could have a descendant for the throne. The Oracle told him that he would have a grandson and that he would die by his hand. When he learned that his daughter Danae was pregnant, rather than kill her, he put Danae and Perseus in a box (larnaca in Greek) and threw it to the sea.

Differences are the following: Danae was impregnated by Zeus; in the film it was Acrisius' wife. Perseus' lover was Andromeda, not Io. Both Danae and Perseus survived; in the film it was just Perseus who survived. Perseus' adoptive father was a fisherman named Dictys; in the film his name was Spyros. Dictys was the brother of the king Polydeykis of the island Serifos, where the box was found. Perseus' father was not killed by Hades; he was later made king by Perseus, in the place of Polydeykis, who tried to have Danae by force and he was shown the head of Medusa by Perseus. The myth says that this is the reason that Serifos is full of rocks that look like men (it is Polydeykis and his men). To kill Medusa, he was helped by Athena and Hermes, not directly by Zeus. Hermes gave him his sandals and Athena his sword and his shield. He also got the Helm of Darkness which belonged to Hades and renders anyone that wears it invisible, and a magic sack in order to carry the head of Medusa. Perseus had to get the head of Medusa because he promised it as a gift to Polydeykis for his marriage. He met Andromeda (bound to a pole) when he was returning home after getting the head.

Cassiopeia claimed Andromeda was more beautiful than the Nereids (daughters of Poseidon and lower goddesses of the sea), not Aphrodite. Hades did not kill Cassiopeia; she was punished by Poseidon by being placed in the heavens in a position that as she circles the celestial pole in her throne. She is upside down half the time. Perseus rescued Andromeda from a sea creature named Cetus, not the kraken. Cetus was sent by Poseidon, not Hades. This took place in Ethiopia and not in Serifos. Pegasus was a white winged horse; in the film he is black. Pegasus was born by the blood of Medusa that fell in the sea, when Perseus decapitated the head. Acrisius did not become Calibos and was not killed by Perseus; he was accidentally struck in the head with a discus thrown by Perseus (thus making true what the Oracle had predicted). Perseus, when he accidentally killed his grandfather Acrisius, became king of Argos. Because of his grandfather's death by his hand, however, he exchanged kingdoms with Megapenthis (his cousin) and so he became the king of Tiryns (Tirintha in Greek). Hercules is an ancestor of Perseus. At the end, in the movie, the head of Medusa seems to be dropped into the sea; in Greek mythology, Perseus gives the head to Athena and she nails it in her shield.

Finally, Calibos, Djinn, and the kraken do not exist in Greek mythology.

Yes, Bubo makes a small cameo early in the film as Perseus and the soldiers prepare to leave in search of the Stygian witches. While going through some weapons, Perseus takes out a mechanical owl and asks what it is. Solon (Liam Cunningham) tells him to leave it there. The owl is identical to Bubo and was added as a nod to the original.

Unlike in the original, Cassiopeia (Polly Walker) compares Andromeda's beauty to Aphrodite instead of Thetis, but Hades kills her. He appears to suck the life out of her so that she shrivels up. She is neither seen nor referred to after this. In one of the deleted scenes however, it is shown that she died out of the quick aging.

Perseus beheads the snake-haired Medusa in the manner of the Greek myth—without looking at her by using his shield as a mirror. He places her head in a bag. As Perseus emerges from Medusa's lair to rejoin Io, Calibos (Jason Flemyng) suddenly runs his sword through Io's back. Perseus slays Calibos, but as he dies, Calibos turns into Perseus's grandfather Acrisius, the man who cast Perseus to the sea. "Don't become one of them," Acrisius says with his dying breath. After Io has passed, Perseus and Pegasus head back to Argos, just in time to see the Kraken rise out of the water and head towards Andromeda, who is hanging from a rope. To prevent Perseus from interfering, Hades sends the harpies, but Perseus and Pegasus elude them. Perseus drops the bag and drives after it, landing close enough to whip out Medusa's head and hold it up in front of the Kraken. Slowly, the Kraken turns to stone and crumbles into the sea. Perseus tosses in the head of the Medusa after him. Unfortunately, the crumbling Kraken takes with him the platform to which Andromeda was bound, and she also falls into the sea. Hades shows up to gloat, but Perseus tosses his sword at him, and Hades vanishes in a cloud of smoke. Perseus then dives into the water and saves Andromeda. She invites him to stay as ruler of Argos, but Perseus refuses. "I cannot be a king," he says. "I will serve you better as a man." He and Pegasus then ride off into the clouds. In the final scene, Zeus appears to Perseus, thanks him for sending Hades back to the Underworld, and asks him to join the gods as one of them. Perseus refuses, so Zeus rewards him by returning Io to be his companion.

According to the director, quite a few. (1) Perseus, in the theatrical cut, appears to go on the mission only to stop the Kraken so he can get revenge on Hades, but the original cut had him say that it was because nobody should be sacrificed to appease the Gods, which made his reasons a little more noble as opposed to simple revenge. (2) The team of soldiers received more development and would each have their own special moment on the adventure. This was mostly cut for time reasons. (3) Apollo had a much larger role. It was he who offered Perseus the gifts, conspiring against Zeus. Athena also had two major scenes that were never completed and her character is cut from the movie almost completely. (4) Zeus was much less sympathetic in the original cut. (5) Io and Perseus had a platonic relationship, and he ended up with Andromeda like in the myth.

The film originally started out as a 2D film, but after Avatar (2009) made some major money at the box office, the decision was made to do a 3D conversion of the film for theatrical release. That is also the main reason why the film's release date was postponed (pushed back) one week, from March 26th to April 2nd, 2010.