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"Sex" Sells -- $55.7 Million Worth! Who Would Have Guessed? (Besides Me...)
Carrie and company did it, Big time. Go figure: The biggest debut weekend ever for a romantic comedy came from a movie based on a TV series. And the makers of Sex and the City already are huddling, trying to go figure how to cash in with a sequel.
That might be a mistake, but the opening-weekend take of $55.7 million proves overwhelmingly that the appetite for Sex, among the female audience, was huge. It was an R-rated movie, yet drew enough fans to rank fifth on the all-time list of R-rated opening-weekend grosses. And the audience for Sex was 85 percent female, a pop-culture percentage I don't think I've seen replicated outside an Oprah Winfrey taping.
My daughter, Kristin -- law-school graduate, about to turn 26 -- gathered two dozen friends, all but two of whom were female, and all but two of whom (the same two, I'm hoping) dressed as their favorite Sex and the City character. Kristin reported, over the weekend, that most women in the audience did the same.
Was that purely an opening-weekend phenomenon, or will this movie turn into a fashion-conscious Rocky Horror Picture Show, with audiences bringing their own toast, umbrellas and interactive attitude? I'm guessing the former... and that the second-week figures for this movie will drop precipitously. Everyone who wanted to see it already has seen it. Watching a second time? No Big deal.
And a sequel may be similarly dicey, because the appetite may have been whetted by this first film, which provided a sense of closure, and a sense of being some sort of an "event." If another movie is made, it won't be an event. It'll be a... sequel.
Speaking of guessing about Sex and the City, it's time to identify and reward the TV WORTH WATCHING reader who came closest to guessing the opening-weekend domestic grosses for the movie without going over.
I wrote here, last week, that I had written, days before the movie opened, a column about Sex and the City for Broadcasting & Cable magazine, which would, among other things, predict the opening-weekend box-office. That column was published today by B & C, and can be read online here.
Guess what I guessed? $55 million. Guess what the opening weekend really was? $55.7 million.
Take that, Carnac the Magnificent!
Among you readers, the winner was Chris Jones, who predicted Sex and the City would pull in a hefty $53 million. Good for you, Chris. I'll contact you by your private email, and you can claim and select your prize from among a sampling of weird TV and movie crap from my basement floor. An Amazing Race travel kit, perhaps? Or a Walk the Line Johnny Cash action figure?
Anyway, thanks for playing, everybody. And, most of all, thanks for reading...
David,
Are you that good at guessing box office all the time? If so, when are the studios going to start hiring you as a consultant?
So....if we go by official "Price is Right" rules, if you hit the "Showcase" price on-the-nose, then you win all the prizes.
So....since the 'home team' can't really win, doesn't that mean that everybody that entered wins a prize..?
(No, I did not attend Harvard Law School)
Something confuses me. This was supposed to be "opening weekend grosses". But I heard this $55.9M number reported yesterday morning on the first NPR hourly I caught (probably the Sunday 12 Noon EDT newscast, which is still mid-morning here on the west coast).
Don't Sunday box office receipts count towards an "opening weekend" figure? It would seem not, but that defies logic.
An "Amazing Race" travel kit? If that means the fanny pack with the red and yellow stripes on it, I will gladly make a donation to the charity of your choice in exchange for it.
i could be wrong but i think the 85 percent number was for friday only. it was reported that saturday had many more men... presumably boyfriends and husbands. however i did read a cool article from the AP with men who wanted to see it as much or more than their wives or girlfriends.
as for a sequel... you are oh so mistaken... i have faith king and parker can think of a fun story and the appetite will be there still. all my friends loved it and are anticipating another. we just hope it's even more of an R rated flick than this one was.
in addition... it made around 40 internationally including the uk, france, germany and italy. so it almost did 100 million in its first weekend worldwide. definitely a sequel.
sex actually went up to 58.8 million in the final numbers (Actually, it was raised to $56.8 million, so you may have sent a typo. But I'll adjust accordingly, and write another column... Thanks. -- David B.)
Kudos on the box office guess, dad . . . I obviously didn't inherit your ability to do that. However, I wanted to make a comment on the sequel, since I agree in part with you, and in part with Dom. Personally, I think that if they do decide to create another sequel centered around these 4 women, there may be a risk of jumping the shark. That being said, I'd definitely go see it anyway, so if it's money they want, they'd get mine. I think the creative thing to do would be to make a sequel centered around Louise, Carrie's assistant, and three of her friends, after something goes wrong with her relationship and she comes back to New York. That way they can start fresh, and grab an entirely new generation of "Sex" lovers while keeping all the old ones intrigued with some fabulous cameos.