In Contention

Tag: Sex and the City 2

  • MONDAY CENTS: Uh-oh

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    The number one movie over the long Memorial Day weekend is “Shrek Forever After” with $55.7 million. That’s the lowest amount for a chart-topping film over Memorial Day since “Casper” in 1995. While Paramount will be delighted to hold on to the top spot and claim a morale boosting 39% dip for the jolly green giant, it won’t mask the fact that this weekend was kind of a disaster for studios and theater owners.

    Dropping 39% over the three days and only 21% is a sorely needed win for “Shrek Forever After.” That gives it much better legs than the last installment and saves it from recording an embarrassing total. When it’s all said and done, it will still be the lowest grossing film in the franchise, but it will handily pass “How to Train Your Dragon” at least.

    The runner-up spot is a toss up. “Sex and the City 2” claimed it on the three day weekend, but estimates have “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” overtaking it for the four day. But let’s start with the lovely ladies. Carrie Bradshaw and company started on Thursday with $14.3 million, as previously reported. For a Thursday, that was fine as long as the Friday saw a significant uptick. But it didn’t.

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  • FRIDAY FORECAST: Disrespect the Middle East edition

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    There’s a mild controversy every time a “Sex and the City” movie comes out where it is mercilessly trashed for existing by male critics who, the accusation goes, often let comparable trash starring men get off easy. Well, you all know that I can not be labeled one who lets any trash off easy so I have free reign to say that anyone who looks up to the women in this movie is probably a terrible person and I weep for humanity that this will be another big hit for Warner Bros.

    “Sex and the City 2” has already opened and earned $14.2 million yesterday. Is that good? Yes. Is it great? No. The first film made $29.6 million on its opening day, albeit being a regular Friday and then dropped drastically to record a weekend tally of $63.2 million. As far as opening days being front-loaded in a weekend, “Sex and the City” is one of the top 15 worst offenders ever and sequels tend to be even worse. But since it’s just a Thursday, no need to panic yet.

    I suspect the film will pick up slightly to around $18 million on Friday and then record around $45 million for the weekend, before adding another cool $8 or $9 million on Monday. All told that will be close to $70 million in five days and set the film up for a profitable run. For some reason, the original was enormous overseas and that should again be the case. But seriously ladies, have some self respect and put your considerable weight (bad choice of word?) as a consumer behind something that doesn’t make you look like a worthless idiot.

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