This week in Box Office Buzz, it’s a boyfriend’s nightmare, with Sex and the City’s debut on the big screen taking the honors away from everyone’s favorite action hero in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It’s actually an outcome that I had not predicted, but obviously because I’m currently single, and thus my instincts are a little off when it comes to chick flicks.
In fact, thankfully, I’m not the only one who is surprised, that Sex and the City toppled the fourth installment of Indiana Jones, taking in an estimated $55.7 million, compare to Indy’s $46 million. However, the fact that there are more women in the world then men, and women also hold the “guilt” gene over us males, would suggest a reason behind Sex’s win. Sex earned $26.1 million in its opening day on May 30, 2008, with a wide release in 3,285 theaters.
According to the LA Times article, Warner Bros. said that women comprised 85 percent of the audience on Friday night screenings of Sex. “Women are great planners and they definitely wanted a girls’ night out,” said Dan Fellman, president of distribution at Warner Bros. However apparently, anecdotal evidence backs up my “guilt” theory in that Saturday’s screenings saw a lot of husbands and boyfriends making up the crowd.
Experts had expected that Indy 4 would keep the top spot after its massive Memorial Day opening, however, being followed by such a big hit of a movie, maybe the Memorial Day opening gave the majority of people the chance to see the movie, leaving the following weekend free for Sex and the City. Indy 4 has earned $216.8 million so far.
The Rogue Pictures horror film The Strangers came in at number 3 with an estimated $20.7 million, while Iron Man and Prince Caspian both managed an estimated $14 and $13 million, respectively, to fill out the fourth and fifth spots.
Next week doesn’t see any movies debuting that I think will take away from the top 2 spots, but June 13th is The Incredible Hulk, which will surely top off the box office stats for the weekend starting that Friday.
As always, special thanks to Box Office Mojo for the stats.
It was a genuine surprise to see so many women appear at the movies when I saw SATC with the missus. A lot.