Surprising analysts all over the net, Sex and the City defied expectations and unseated Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which was entering its second weekend. It had been expected that the Harrison Ford adventure would retain the top spot in its second weekend, while the television show-turned-movie would do strongly among women but trail when the final tallies came in. That, obviously, did not happen.
Well, Sex and the City still proved to be the top draw for women, but they turned out in numbers larger than expected. I cannot lie, I am not a woman, yet I added a few bucks to the coffer when I paid my dues and took my ticket. What will be interesting is to see what kind of legs the film has.
It appears that the strong start for Sex will be very front-loaded and drop off steeply in the coming weeks. This will be partly due to the less than great reviews, and partly because most who were interested in seeing it will have likely done so in the opening weekend. The drop-off is already being seen as it lost both Saturday and Sunday to Indiana Jones, its exceptional Friday gross keeping it afloat for the weekend victory.
There was one other new film opening wide this weekend, the thriller called The Strangers. Here is a movie that was originally set to open last August, but kept getting bumped back until it landed on this weekend. It was expected to open decently, but it surprised most by taking in more than $20 million. I suspect that it, like Sex and the City, will be front-loaded and will quickly drop off. This suspicion is based on the anecdotal evidence of disappointed patrons at the screening I went to, combined with less than stellar reviews, and the fact that it is a horror/thriller; this genre does not tend to stay at the top for very long.
Among the rest of the returning films, Iron Man continues to show strong legs and looks to be nearly a lock to cross the $300 million barrier. This has to be seen as a huge success; it is also a good example of a good movie finding an audience and benefitting from positive word of mouth. Also continuing to have solid showings are What Happens in Vegas, which seems to fly in the face of a good movie finding an audience, and Baby Mama, which is a decent but wholly mediocre film.
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Article comments
1 - Toni
My boyfriend and I finally went to see Indiana Jones this weekend and were astounded at the lines for Sex and the City. The theater was drowning in estrogen. We couldn't help but notice the one or two guys standing in line amongst the sea of women, probably dragged there by their wives/girlfriends.