“Sex” Power at the Box Office Deballs Indiana Jones!
In one of the few shocks in no-surprises-please Hollywood, Sex and the City unmanned Indiana Jones into the shame of second place. That’s $55.7 million for Sex at 3,285 theaters and $46 million for Indy 4 at 4,264 theaters. Sex enjoyed the biggest weekend debut ever for a romantic comedy, doubling the $27.5 million debut of The Devil Wears Prada, and scoring the fifth best debut of all time for an R-rated film. Sex easily topped other R-rated comedies, such as The Wedding Crashers and Knocked Up. Which means Dr. Jones was thoroughly pussywhipped. Instead of giving the ladies their due — what’s wrong with a victory for females in a male-dominated summer? — the beancounters keep putting up a biased macho defense:
Sex is a one-weekend wonder: every fan of the TV series who needed to see it already has.
Sex lost power as the weekend went along. After a smash Friday opening of $27 million, Sex took in only $18. million on Saturday and $11 million on Sunday. Indy 4, however, improved on its Friday take as the weekend went on.
Sex drew an audience of 85% women, 80% of whom were over twenty five. For some reason, that’s supposed to be a bad thing.
Sex is already sparking talk of a sequel, which experts feel is premature until the figures are in on how the movie plays out over the long summer haul.
So here’s today’s thought to chew on for those who haven’t yet sampled Sex: Has the successful opening worn down your resistance to buy a ticket for Sex and the City or do you think Sex will go up in flames next weekend and you’ll never have to think of it again?