The women have spoken — with their designer wallets.USA Today reports that female moviegoers, many of them decked out as their favorite Sex and the City character, helped drive the adaptation of the popular HBO show to a stunning $55.7 million this weekend, according to studio estimates from box office tracking firm Nielsen EDI.
The debut is nearly twice the projections of many analysts, who assumed the movie's R rating and cable TV fan base would limit it to a $30 million opening.
Instead, women, who by some estimates made up about 75% of the audience, turned the movie into a nationwide ladies' night out.
Despite middling reviews — about 55% of the nation's critics recommended the film, according to RottenTomatoes.com — shows were sold out by the time the movie opened at midnight Thursday and matinees were equally crowded, rare for an R-rated film.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull fell from its No. 1 spot after just a week, doing $46 million. The Liv Tyler horror film The Strangers had a much stronger debut than expected, taking in $20.7 million, well above its $8 million projections.
Iron Man refuses to leave the top five a month after its release, taking fourth place with $14 million. It has done $276 million and remains the highest grossing film of the year. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, dropped to fifth place with $13 million. The second installment of the Narnia franchise has taken in $115.7 million.
The strong weekend helped ticket sales surge 28% over the same weekend last year.
Final figures are due Monday.
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