Weekend Box Office #86
So I'm not going to be seeing Sex In The City this weekend. Not really because it's a "women's movie", but because the TV show never hooked me; I sampled it a few times in season 1, and I never got into it.
Though of you who do go, let me know what the male-female ratio is, because it may be record-setting. Though for you single guys, it might be a good place to pick up women.
SEX IN THE CITY (3285 theaters). Despite its apparent audience being limited to women over a certain age, I think this will do pretty well, particularly since the reviews I have seen have been generally positive. Call it $30.3 million for the weekend.
THE STRANGERS (2467 theaters). Though they probably should have released the Adam Sandler movie today as pure male counterprogramming, it'll be interesting to see if "The Strangers" can work as a date movie alternative when the guy refuses to go see Sex and the City. The LA Times review is solid, so it should do something. $16.2 million.
Look for Indiana Jones to finish number one again, though it'll likely slip to about $45 million or so for the weekend.
posted by Scott the Reader @ 8:56 AM
14 Comments:
I know a lot of women who went to see Sec and the City at a midnight screening. God knows why. I would rather slam my head into a wall repeatedly than watch that film.
I have no interest in seeing this movie either. I saw 1 or 2 episodes of the series and found the char's incredibly annoying-- & not funny.
But I really really hope this does great business. We need more female centered movies doing well at the box office.
... Enchanted, Prada, Juno, Baby Mama...
If the studios see there's a market for these movies (& there is) they'll be inclined to make more.
Which creates more opportunities for us writers who write female protags.
I have a female buddy comedy idea I've been tossing around. The first thing anyone ever says is-- "They don't make female buddy movies".
The show was hands down one of the best written, funniest shows about love, sex and dating ever. If you didn't get it I pity you. (I'm a dude BTW - A straight dude!)
The movie, however, needed great reviews to get me to pay $$ to see it in a theater. Sadly, the only review that matters, the NY Times, couldn't have been worse. I mean Manola completely shredded it. Too bad, really. I had high hopes because I want more films like these to get made.
I'm curious to see if ANY men go on their own.
"The show was hands down one of the best written, funniest shows about love, sex and dating ever. If you didn't get it I pity you. "
Go ahead and pity me then. I GOT the show. Its not as though it was deep and difficult to GET. It was about as deep as a puddle of water. I hate the show, the acting is terrible, and it has no heart. I watched several episodes because my wife gave in and watched Deadwood and The Wire for me. She ended up on my side of the fence.
then I pity you, matt.. JK
I just get so sick of how bloggers love to dis successful shows/movies with very little finesse or a convincing argument. Dissers seem to rule blogs for some strange reason. Where is the love?
But thanks for the predictable response.
"Sex and the City" looks like a total chick with nothing to offer the male species, EXCEPT to passify his mate. I read the Seattle Times review about it, which went over where the series left off, and who these 4 women are, and it all sounded like a total bore. Maybe the dialog good's though, but I'll never know, cuz I'll NEVER go so it.
"The Stangers" looks very, very creepy. Another skipper. Too bad they dind't have "Indiana Jones 5" ready to roll this weekend, cuz I'd see that for sure.
- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA
"I just get so sick of how bloggers love to dis successful shows/movies with very little finesse or a convincing argument. Dissers seem to rule blogs for some strange reason. Where is the love?
But thanks for the predictable response."
Huh? So much silliness, so little time. Sorry that it was predictable, I assume much like the film we're discussing. Will they talk about clothes and sex? Will they be shallow? I'm on the edge of my seat.
I'm not sure I'm required to make a convincing argument. I'm not trying to get you to change your mind. I couldn't care less if you like the movie or not. I'm saying why I hate it. Silly, George.
3:52 PM
Well, clearly my prediction is very wrong, because Sex and the City made an estimated $26.1 million on Friday.
Yikes.
Hey George, different people like different things. That's what makes the world so much fun.
Don't pity me. If I forced myself to see a movie about four women discussing sex and clothes for 2 1/2 hours when I wasn't remotely interested in it, that would be cause for pity. But I didn't see a movie I didn't want to see. So I'm happy.
I never got into the show, but try to see a new release every week. On a Friday afternoon at a theater that is generally a ghost town, their largest auditorium was well over half full. At the ticket counter, several signs indicated that, at 2PM, the movie was already sold out for every show from 4:45 on. This same theater had around 50 people in the audience for a Friday afternoon opening weekend showing of the last Harry Potter. I had no idea this would be such a big deal.
Inside, I counted six men. Five with girlfriends, one alone. Most of the people were there in groups of three or more. Lots of mother/daughter groups. The "of a certain age" thing didn't hold here. Certainly skewed because it was workday afternoon, but the audience was 90% under 25 if I had to guess.
It was an interesting audience experience. When the opening music began, several people squealed and clapped. There was a huge, collective, audible gasp at a particular plot turn. It's been a while since I've heard that kind of reaction in a theater. The movie was not my thing, but post-movie restroom eavesdropping led me to believe it delivered to its fans. While I didn't love it, I'm excited to see a film with female protagonists have such a firm draw.
I did try to leave a comment here on Friday but it didn't go through and I decided not to rewrite it.
In the comment, I said that $30 million was too low and predicted $45 million for the weekend. Looks like my estimate might even be under.
I watched the show and found it amusing. It's something I used to watch when working 60-hour weeks in Silicon Valley. All of my coworkers were male (a lot of them foreign) and I spent my days in server rooms surrounded by computers. SATC was a nice break from all of that - like, ah, the world of women. Yeah, the show was not high art but it did capture what friendships are like amongst 30-something females.
I am a tomboy and I'd rather talk about tube amps and music and my favorite beer than shoes and clothes. But I'm not so invested in that identity (like some people) that I can't enjoy a day with the girls, shopping and getting pedicures. I plan to see the movie today, after band practice.
I only saw a few episodes of the TV series.
What hit me weren't much the love stories, the supposed thing fashion, the supposed sophisticated life of NY, or the often bizarre and incidental sex, but the friendship between these women.
That's what I perceived, an almost solid friendship between human beings with their own weaknessess.
And, of course, the hunt for an almost solid and lasting love relation under the pressure of bone-crushing time, which always goes by too fast.
It is something that haunts me too.
.
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.
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$55 million...
WOWZA! That is some serious change for a "silly" film. Guess there are lots of people (men included since they amassed 25% of the aud) who want to see a film about shoes, sex, love, friendship and the frightening, but unavoidable onslaught of middle age. I don't know about the rest of you, but this sounds very meaningful to me and I would imagine this morning every studio head is feeling it.
I was into SATC when it was on HBO (mind you, I was about 17 at the time).
Several screenings in downtown Montreal sold out before opening night so I bought my tickets online and picked them up when the cinema was quiet.
I've been to a lot of opening nights for Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter... the big ones. And what I saw on Friday night for SATC was unlike anything I'd seen before. It was complete madness. On each floor of the theatre, lines were backed up into coils outside of each cinema. Tons and tons of girls, dressed to the nines with their girlfriends, their gay friends, and occasionally their boyfriends were shrieking with excitement to get into their seats. Unbelievable.
People are embarrassed to see this movie because of all kinds of things associated with it, but it was a good movie and avoided some pretty tricky pitfalls.
Scott: Male to female ratio was probably over 20:1
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