
MONDAY AM WRITETHRU:
SATURDAY 7 AM: Stats show that 90% of the audience was women. New Line/Warner Bros says Sex and the City 2 ended Friday #1 despite horrible reviews with a big domestic box office of $13 million (-9% from Thursday’s total) for a cume already of $27.2M. That’s an estimated 4-day Memorial Weekend number – Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday — around $53M. And $67M or so for the 5-day holiday.
Also with “mediogre” reviews, DreamWorks Animation’s Shrek 4 was sitting comfortably in 2nd place because it was distributed by Paramount into 1,000+ more theaters at higher 3D ticket prices. It ended Friday with $11.3M (-45%) but that could be $50M for the 4-day holiday and estimated new cume of $149M.
Much is riding on Disney’s Prince of Persia in terms of price and prestige (a holdover from the Dick Cook administration though marketed by Rich Ross’ new one), not to mention whether Jake Gyllenhaal can open a big budget movie. But Jerry Bruckheimer’s period actioner based on the 2003 video game debuted a disappointing 3rd on Friday with about $10.3M. That should be $42M for the 4-day holiday.
Here’s the preliminary Top 10 with numbers to be refined later this morning:
1. Sex And the City 2 (NL/Warner Bros) NEW [3,445 Theaters]
Friday $13M, Estimated Weekend $53M, Estimated Cume $67M
2. Shrek Forever After (DWA/Paramount) Week 2 [4,367]
Friday $11.3M, Estimated Weekend $50M, Estimated Cume $149M
3. Prince Of Persia (Disney) NEW [3,646]
Friday $10.3M, Estimated Weekend $42M
4. Iron Man 2 (Marvel/Paramount) Week 4 [3,804]
Friday $4.0M, Estimated Weekend $18.5M, Estimated Cume $277M
5. Robin Hood (Universal) Week 3 [3,373]
Friday $2.8M, Estimated Weekend $12.5M, Estimated Cume $85M
6. Letters to Juliet (Summit) Week 3 [2,825]
Friday $1.8M, Estimated Weekend $7.5M, Estimated Cume $38.2M
7. Just Wright (Fox Searchlight) Week 3 [1,195]
Friday $595K, Estimated Weekend $2.7M, Estimated Cume $18.8M
8. Date Night (Fox) Week 8 [1,126]
Friday $502K, Estimated Weekend $1.8M, Estimated Cume $93.9M
9. MacGruber (Rogue/Universal) Week 2 [2,456]
Friday $460K (-72%), Estimated Weekend $2.0M, Estimated Cume $7.6M
10. Nightmare on Elm Street (NL/Warner Bros) Week 5 [891]
Friday $265K, Estimated Weekend $1M, Estimated Cume $62M
FRIDAY 8:20 AM UPDATE: Sources are saying Thursday gross was $14.3 million for Sex and the City 2, a strong number going into the weekend. After giving itself an extra day, Warner Bros will be looking for Friday business to stack up against the $26.7 million the original did on its opening Friday night.
FRIDAY 5:30 AM UPDATE: Sources say the Warner Bros sequel made a very strong $17.5 million on its rare Thursday opener (including $3M midnight showings in about 2,000 venues). That compares very favorably to the original’s $26.7M opening Friday as well as Indiana Jones’ pre-Memorial Weekend $25M Thursday debut. So now estimates have Sex And The City 2 earning $60+M for the 4-day weekend, and $75+M for the 5-day holiday. The original did $57M for its 3-day weekend.
THURSDAY 8:30 AM: The midnight showing of Sex and the City 2 turned in an estimated $3 million gross. That is 20% better than the $2.5 million midnight performance of the first film. It puts Warner Bros in strong position for a strong holiday opening for the film, despite the negative reviews the film has received. The film is open today on 3,445 theaters.
The original SATC surprised the studio when it turned in $2.5 million during its midnight opening. That pic turned in a $26.7 million opening day, which set it on course for a $57 million opening weekend on 3285 screens. The sequel is expected to do at least $60 million for the weekend, with more screens.
For more estimates listed by title, see box office results here...


The real question is whether Jake Gyllenhaal can open a movie. Evidence so far suggests not, even when propped up by a huge video game franchise.
You should check out the international box office. He can open a movie.
The story here is that incredibly bad opening for Persia. A Jerry Bruckheimer action movie opening Memorial Day weekend gets beat badly by the opening of SATC 2? Wow. Can’t wait to read the excuses for this.
That new marketing team at Disney is off to a great start! Way to go, MT!!!
There is no new marketing team at Disney yet, same old people in the same old jobs which is the PROBLEM the only that changed are the talking heads at the top, and now maybe they’ll clean house and get rid of the sludge that has been doing crappy work for years, with the exception of one relative newcomer who does great work(been there about a year maybe 1& 1/2), but who has had to answer to morons.
Are you kidding? MT Carney has been there approximately 2 weeks and has been focusing all of her energy on trying to save the god-awful “Sorcerer’s Apprentice”. And since when does the head of marketing open a movie?
Not a fan of anyone over there, but you should at least know what you’re talking about before you spout complete horseshit into the ether. Sounds like a recent lay off “getting even” on a deteriorating message board. Have another flirtini and lay off the keyboard, Stanford.
Really? Who is new over there doing the creative marketing? Singh, nope. Schetchman, nope. LaFontant, nope. These are the same old, same old beat a dead horse, squeeze out every inch of creativity from trailer/TV creative marketing guys who were under the thumb of Oren Aviv, then Jim Gallagher (who I personally adored) and who are still doing the creative work with the vendors in the trenches. Just because there’s a new head of marketing, doesn’t mean the work gets better if you have the same tired old busted down execs doing the work. And nope don’t work there, never worked there, am not laid off or disgruntled, I’m just calling it the way I and almost everyone in the marketing end of industry see it and have been saying it for the past few years.
That’s only the A/V guys. Don’t forget Justin Pertschuk.
You’re right.
I’ve worked in marketing at another studio for years, and if marketing has anything to do with a movie’s opening, then where should the responsibility for the marketing go?
If MT just got there, where’s she been? She was announced weeks ago as Disney floundered through the campaign for a 450-500m investment (production and world wide p and a) She had nothing to do with it? She had more important stuff to do? OK, we’ll wait to judge her abilities on Sorcerer’s Apprentice.
The industry agrees that the marketing was embarrassing on Prince of Persia, and that credit goes to Rich Ross. Rich has been running marketing since he fired Gallager (which no one i’ve talked to understands at all. He was the smartest guy in that whole studio). Rich was smart enough to just finish what Gallager started on Alice, but Persia was all Rich. A complete failure. You better hurry up and start firing more people, Rich. That sound you hear is the clock counting down your career.
All the male whining on these sites is pathetic. Indy Jones 4 and Tranformers sucked but you still went to see them. Let us have SATC2 and Twilight. They may not be the best, but they give us escapism. That why we love the movies. So far romantic chick flicks have done well both domestically and abroad. Valentines Day, Date Night, and The Bounty Hunter have all done over $100 million. Just Wright and Letters to Juliet are also holding well for small films. Plus the returns on female oriented movies are better, because without the action and violence, the budget rarely goes over $100 million. Unlike every other action male movie that costs $200 million and more.
How many of you are going to come here and complain when Eclipse blasts Inception and IM2 out of the water an kills TDK’s record? Probably all of you. New Moon didn’t play on Imax or 3D and still has made more money worldwide than Iron Man 2 will do. I’m glad fangirls are finally sticking it to Hollywood after all their years of sucking up to fanboys. Not surprised that Prince of Persia and Robin Hood flopped. The first SATC made over $400 million dollars. I’m sure this one will top it.
fanboys won’t pay money for films they think suck but apparently females will (see SATC2 and twilight). doesn’t say a lot for women, does it?
If you don’t think Transformers sucked, that says something about your taste level. Her point was that you can have as many crappy movies made, and you will go see said crappy movies, and yet, you will whine over some movie being made that you consider crappy- not because its actually crappy, but because its not being made for you. that says something about how sad and pathetic you are regarding needing to be the center of attention all the time.
i only understand your first sentence. the rest is crap.
but i would like to say, from a technical and visual standpoint, transformers 2 is an incredible movie. if you want to discuss the the underlying themes and the character motivation of sam witwicky, you need to have your head screwed back on straight.
Not an SATC fan but you’re absolutely right.
Jerry Bruckheimer action movie loses to SATC2.
That new Disney marketing team is off to a great start.
And I will say it again! Really? Who is new over there doing the creative marketing? Singh, nope. Schetchman, nope. LaFontant, nope. These are the same old, same old beat a dead horse, squeeze out every inch of creativity from trailer/TV creative marketing guys who were under the thumb of Oren Aviv, then Jim Gallagher (who I personally adored) and who are still doing the creative work with the vendors in the trenches. Everything that goes out that marketing door is put through the Singh first, before the big guys even see it. So just because there’s a new head of marketing, and she’s only been there 2 weeks and the only campaign she can affect is Sorcerer’s Apprentice, that doesn’t mean the work gets better if you have the same tired old busted down execs are doing the work. And nope don’t work there, never worked there, am not laid off or disgruntled, I’m just calling it the way I and almost everyone in the marketing end of industry see it and have been saying it for the past few years.
Prince of Persia is/WAS a half-assed effort at launching a live-action ‘sinbad the sailor’ or ‘Arabian Nights’-type franchise but someone forgot that Sinbad wasn’t a pasty white guy… that no one’s heard of… and where’s the hot co-star? this needed a bodacious Bond Girl-type WOMAN… not another boyish ingenue…
Another idiot. Gemma Arterton, the female lead, was a Bond Girl in “Quantum of Solace”. Does anybody on this board know about film anymore, or has this become another gigglefart sellout site?
Persia has zero appeal except to young boys and complete idiots. Bottom line. No one wants to see an Arabian adventure, and shit like this was the reason Oren Aviv and Dick Cook lost their jobs. Can you even really give them credit for “Alice in Wonderland”, which is the biggest layup idea in history? Not really. Let’s move on.
jake g as an action, adventure, he-man?
will do fine int’l though
he doesn’t have that “gotta see his movie NOW” je ne sais quoi
not sure if one can acquire that….
Well, it already opened international and it was very soft. So there’s goes that theory. Fact is POP will not even make it’s production costs back at the BO. It will lose tens of millions of dollars if not hundreds of millions of dollars.
I KENW IT! Hahaha. The TV show movie is whipping up on the over-hyped Prince of Persia. Laughing so hard.
Everybody warned Disney they had made a huge mistake. Jake Gyllenhaal is not an action star. Never was. Never will be. Nice dramactic type, but has all the charismatic energy of a potato. Fools insist any actor can be an action star. WRONG. It’s a genre with its own skill set. Good dramatic actors frequently make for poor action stars and vice-versa.
Laughing too hard to type right. Who cares? Male critics rated the ladies as low as they could and the ladies still whip their brain-dead action movie with the droopy, non-action star.
I hardly think that Jake is the biggest problem with PERSIA. It’s a B title with a limited fan base and no big hook to pull in a four-quadrant audience.
Right you are. If they had cast Jason Statham for instance, they may, I say MAY, have gotten another 20 million out of POP, as is, Jake G??? Come. on.
Glad Prince of Persia didn’t do that well, it looks awful. I’m a guy, and I would rather see Sex and the City 2 over “Persia”.
how is POP a dissapointment? 40mill weekend sounds good to me
prince of persia is not a massive pop culture title so i dont get why this is a failure
Because it cost $240m to make and countless millions more for P & A.
And that’s $40MILL for a four-day, holiday wknd after it already bombed overseas last wknd. Let us not forget that Shrek was considered a huge disappointment when it opened to $70MILL in 3 days. Gigantoid write-off.
the overseas total for POP is 97M. but i’m no disney, jake g. or jerry b. apologist. i knew this film would suck immediately after i read the cast list on imdb. like most movies, POP won’t cover its costs as a theatrical release.
The ageism on this topic is the scariest thing of all. That a woman (or man presumably) can’t be attractive past (it sounds like from the comments) 30 or 35 is one of the biggest mental sicknesses pervading our culture.
It’s odd – for a culture that wants to live to a very old age, we sure do have strong opinions when it’s time for a person to ‘stop living’/stop having sex.
I agree that the gals ain’t what they used to be (who is, 13 years later?) but I think they’re acknowledging that in the narrative for example (Samantha’s catty line to the shopgirl got cheers from men and women in the theatre I saw it at).
It wasn’t a great movie but certainly no worse than the crap I see advertised like that Kevin James movie coming out. I’ll take four women talking about a mature subject (fidelity/marriage/are we getting old?) laced with terrible puns, high campy fashion and cringe-worthy karaoke over fart and poop jokes from middle aged men any day.
You know, I find it funny that all these people are here bashing Catrall and saying she looks old when just a a few months back I didn’t hear a single complaint about her looking old when she was the sexy mistress/assistant in Ghost Writer.
Funny how she was sexy as hell in a critically acclaimed Polanski film and four months later she’s an over the hill hag in Sex and the City 2. Is it Catrall or just hate for Sex in the City – just wondering.
And don’t forget the HI-larious bit where they pour a dead man’s ashes into a bucket of KFC, then someone eats the chicken anyway. Yes, KFC officially approved of that joke. Makes you want to rush out and eat some chicken, doesn’t it?
Has anyone considered that middle-America doesn’t like Persia all that much right now, and that regimes and star power have nothing to do with it?
Please. “Middle-America,” doesn’t know what or where fcking Persia even IS. lmao My guess is, Jake Gyllenhal doesn’t inspire those macho heathen Russell Crowe-ish vibes that are needed. Hell, Russell Crowe isn’t even Russell Crowe anymore. Sam Worthington is a poor substitute, but Jake doesn’t register on anyone’s hormonal radar, male or female.
I just read the tracking reports said the historical setting is “un-relatable” and “unappealing” to Western audiences.
I don’t think anyone in Middle America knows that Persia is Iran.
LOL you can say that again, Norma.
They know that Persia is the Middle-East. That’s all some of them need to know to not be interested, unfortunately.
The “franchise” or brand should end now. It’s a terrible movie, but the “hook” was what got the women in the the theatres. This will not last. What I was amazed at was that over the years the sophistication level should have grown and become more refined when what happend was the opposite. It was a schlockfest. An assault on the senses (including some of the actresses voices)not in a good way. What will we see in Sex and the City: Seniors night Out? Imagine the shmattes that would be worn as “fashion”. Or is the brand that strong that in 20 years we will see a “modern” retelling of the story? Yawn…
Yeah, SJP & Co. are ‘yawning’ all the way to the bank. The way I calculate it assshole, the ladies have a good 20 years before they are ‘technically’ seniors (about the same amount of time as Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt actually) — but just to humor you…yeah, I could absolutely see a SATC 3, 4 and 5 which follows these ladies past menopause, into grandmotherhood, new careers, new relationships and beyond…..unlike you, I know women who get MORE interesting as they get older…women who are in their 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s who kick ass…the Secretary of State, Brigadier Generals, and Prime Ministers to boot. It stands to reason, as we’re supposed to GAIN something by being in this world longer. Baby Boomers are just now becoming seniors, so it’s not like there won’t be a helluva lot of ‘seasoned’ women out there to eat it up. Anyone who thinks otherwise, is stupidly just leaving money on the table. Men always have to mess sh*t up by trying to attract a new demo, or expand the old one. You saw it in the Twilight Movies. Females 8-80 went insane for that epic love story sh*t, and what did the MALE run studio do — throw in a lot of warring factions, and fights, and conflicts and unnecessary attempts at being macho…turned them all off. Sure, the Twi-franchise will still make money, but the repeat business, the DVD business, all suffer when you ignore what the ladies want. They want Romance, not CGI ‘battles,’ to attract fanboys that won’t show up ANYWAY, you idiots. I digress….point is…ignore what females want at your own impoverishment Hollywood. Way to GO SATC!!!
Sex and the City: Seniors Night Out? Why shouldn’t “older” women have stories about sexy onscreen heroines to see?
Because men run Hollywood, and would rather use the casting couch(in the form of premieres, parties, meet & greets, PR agencies) to procure young unknown poon desperate to do anything, even fcking middle age goats to snare a part and become the latest ‘it’ girl. These pervy suits ‘perks’ would dry up, if they were actually out looking for excellently written stories/scripts about real women of all ages. Look what happened to ‘The Runaways,’ the powers that be (men) could have cared less about marketing that film, despite the superlative acting, and real story of real girls who didn’t take sh*t and became powerful legendary women in rock music. Can’t put that message out there – better to spend money and resources on the auditioning of whoever is going to get the eye candy roles and bend over the next motorcycle in movies like Transformers 3.
Wow, Prince of Persia is a HUGE BOMB. Disney has been feeling this coming for awhile. They’ve been running around like chickens with their heads cut off since at least the start of the year, trying to avert the disaster.
Nobody I’ve spoken to though Jake Gyllenhaal was a good idea.
Question du jour: What happened to Bruckheimer’s famous “bullshit detector”? The one that told him that the first cut was crap? Although it stands to reason that it might have been better than this trainwreck of dead entertainment.
Jake is proven b.o. poison. How in hell could you cast this pale boy for a Persian prince? Reeves at least looks like Sinbad, they should just get Cohen back onboard, shoot that one in 3D and clock in a cool billion.
Where was I? Ah, yes. Bruckheimer’s dead commercial sense. Come on, Jake had to take it in the °°°, in order for one of his flicks to muster up any sort of resonance. Avoid at all costs, if you want your flick to perform.
Bruckheimer is losing his touch.
Rob Cohen? Really? The man who decided he didn’t need to hire an action choreographer on THE MUMMY 3, and turned a perhaps once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh square off in a huge Hollywood movie into a lifeless borefest?
A new SINBAD is a great idea, but keep Cohen far, far away from it.
The only real poison here is your idiotic and very pathetic post, Nathan
The London Daily Telegraph referred to the rudimentary female hominoids in SATC2 as looking like a Village People tribute drag act. Well put. C1 & C2 America flocks lemming-like to its first weekend but they will hardly return for a further serving of this dead franchise & its witless . Miranda’s table manners — always vile — have worsened. My wife left before the half way point .
Well, I think both of these movies (SATC and PoP) are crap. I would recommend seeing Please Give or Girl with the Dragon Tattoo instead, much more worth your time!
SATC2 women are aging, get over it. Betty White is having a career resurgence, get over it. Women exist and have money to spend at the movies, get over it. I saw Iron Man 2 and it wasn’t great by any means. POP shouldn’t have ever been made. It flopped overseas too. The only reason that POTC is popular is because Johnny Depp took a character and made him mesmerize a general audience. I totally agree about the male crap. How many years have men in Hollywood shoveled bathroom and boob jokes down our throats. SATC2 isn’t the best movie ever, but their stilettos are killing the muscled boys.
Unlike women, bathroom jokes and boobs never get old and tiresome.
lol, you are full of anger. get laid already.
That’s hilarious, Jen. PoP will destroy SATC in overall international BO. SATC won’t even beat out a cartoon no one cares about anymore in it’s second weekend.
Put down the Melissa Etheridge cd and get over your flag waving man hating.
Thank you to Jen and the other female posters here for standing up for female-driven movies. I didn’t watch the SATC series nor have I seen either movie. In fact, I probably only go to 1 out of 3 rom-com/chick flicks that come out. I actually shouldn’t even call them by those monikers, as they have become like curse words on these boards and in the minds of critics (95% of whom seem to be male.) Women need to rise up here. Even though these might not be my favorite genre of movie, I hate the way they are being kicked around. I really enjoy some of them when that’s what I am in the mood for. My daughters enjoy many of them. I hate it that so many women are buying into the Big Boys’ arguments that they (women) are not allowed to enjoy female-driven movies featuring romance, weddings, and love. This is sexism pure and simple that needs to stop.
This men vs women fighting is funny and stupid at the same time.
SATC2 got worse reviews than Transformers2 even. So this just proves women will flock to terrible movies just as men will.
And that 90% women demo for this movie is crazy, even worse than Twilight.
I am pretty sure average women with their normal senses and intelligence find this SATC franchise disgusting. in fact most of the woman I know wont watch this crapfest cos they know THIS IS NOT ABOUT AVERAGE WOMEN and thei problems or joy, this is about the materialistic, racist, valueless system America tyries to force on every women on the world.
I don’t have a single movie on my list to see over this long weekend. I saw Iron Man 2 already, and loved it, but am passing on the newest offerings.
I did not watch SATC when it was on TV so am not interested in the movies.
I like Russell Crowe so might go see Robin Hood in a week or so, and can’t generate any interest in seeing Prince of Persia.
Have seen friends play the Prince of Persia video game, and it gets rave reviews, so I was initially interested in the movie until I found out about the casting.
I don’t have anything against Jake G., but I was very surprised that he was cast to play the Prince.
Again, no offense intended to the actor, but if they had chosen a guy who I thought of as more the gorgeous exotic type for that role, I probably would have gone to see the movie.
I think it would have appealed to a lot more women if the casting were a bit different.
Political correctness aside and forgetting about the Jake Gyllenhaal hatred that is on obvious display here for a moment, Prince of Persia is simply not a good movie. I watched it last night and was terribly disappointed. Gyllenhaal couldn’t have done anything with that role. It was a role with all of the character and gravitas of a black hole. And the dialogue was, god, oh dear god, it was atrocious. Gemma Arterton and Gyllenhaal had no chemistry together whatsoever, with Arterton showing exactly two facial expressions: pouting and somewhat shocked pouting.
And when Ben Kingsley first appeared on the screen, I wanted to shout, like that kid in The Last Action Hero , “Don’t trust him, he killed Mozart!” He wears guyliner! And a goatee! Have you never seen Star Trek?
And I’m sorry, I am as political as the next guy, but to transport the Iraq war political situation into a mythical past? “Son, Alamut is producing weapons of mass distraction [sic]”
Or my favourite line.
“I know this arrow! It’s got a steel tip! One of these arrows has killed my horse. There will be blood for this!”
Okay, here’s a thought, and I’m saying this as a European, not even as an American. Please don’t frontload modern-day politics and worse, in such a crude manner, into what should be a decent fairy tale (be it based on a video game or not). No clever Iraq war metaphors. No tea bagger metaphors. There’s a time and space to deal with these things, and that time is not after I have paid 12 Euro to be entertained for two hours. I can get political stuff for free and for real in the news, and that is the hell depressing enough.
And do a story that has at least some characters to root for. Even the ending was a cop-out. If the whole point was to teach Gyllenhaal’s character that it was wrong to have taken the city of Alamut in the first place, they would have had to have the guts to take it all the way back to the moment on the hill, right before they started the siege. But no, he returns right at the end of his glorious victory (a few red shirts buy it, but hell, who cares?), so that he can get the pouty princess anyway. Who he of course at some point during the quest fell in love with. When? And with what exactly? Damned if I know.
And the next time some character in a movie talks about “this is your destiny, boy”, I swear I am going to throw something at the screen.
WHO THE HELL DECIDED JAKE GYLLENHAAL COULD CARRY A BLOCKBUSTER???
FIRE THAT PERSON. Run him out of town on a rail and let us never speak of such idiocy again.
They did. Their names were Dick Cook and Oren Aviv.
um. i think you mean jerry bruckheimer.
Comes down to this – when you look at what does well it is a popular franchise or a popular book. If I wasnt doing a franchise (Shrek) I would make a beeline for the nearest book store or library and find out what people are reading and make a movie of that. Would not see SATC2 on a bet but I am not surprised that everyone else is.
Rest in peace Mr. Bruckheimer. You could smell that stink a mile away. Sorry Jake. Not a great choice on you and your teams part.
Shut up, Jen. Get back in the kitchen.