'Sex and the City 2' and 'Prince of Persia' defeated by green ogre

By Sarah Sluis

All style and no substance. Everyone was talking about Sex and the City 2 in the weeks before its release,

but in the end it was less-hyped family fare that won out over Memorial Day weekend. With box-office revenue down 19% from last year, the holiday weekend was one of the weakest in years.

The weekend lost some of its punch from the Thursday debut of Sex and the City 2, which earned $14 million its opening day. Over the four-day weekend, it brought in a lackluster $37.1 million, but its five-day total shined a little brighter with a $51.3 million total, much closer to the $60 million forecast. Still, its underwhelming four-day performance put it in third place.

The other new release of the week, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, debuted to $37.8 million over the long weekend. Its family-friendly plot and characters meshed well with the family-

focused weekend. Kudos to Jake Gyllenhaal. Let's just hope his career doesn't turn into that of Brendan Fraser of The Mummy, whose latest turns have been family flops Furry Vengeance and Inkheart.

In its second week, Shrek Forever After held on to first place with just a 21% drop and another $55.7 million to add to its $145 million two-week total. Last week's $70 million debut was considered below expectations, but the strong second weekend puts it on track for a longer-tail profitability. By comparison, Shrek the Third dropped 45% in its second weekend--though that still gave the movie a two-week total of $217 million.

Specialty movies did particularly well this week. The playful French movie Micmacs averaged $14,100 per

screen on four screens, a healthy debut. Historical epic Agora filled theatres with an average of $21,600 per screen on two screens. The second week of Michael Douglas-starring Solitary Man was very promising, with a $17,000 per-screen average while adding two locations, for a total 12% bump from last week.

This Friday will offer a crowded but diverse bunch: comedy Get Him to the Greek vs. sci-fi horror Splice vs. action romance/comedy Killers vs. family pet comedy Marmaduke. Here's to a heated-up summer box office.