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Movie Tuesday: Prince and the City


prince of persia.JPGSure, the franchise may be tired. Sure, the newest installment may have been a box-office disappointment. But, in a frame that saw the fewest number of movie tickets sold over a Memorial Day weekend since 1993 (according to hollywood.com), Shrek Forever After still smashed its way to the crown, scoring $55.7 million and topping newcomers Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Sex and the City 2.

Second place was really a story of two franchises—one just beginning, and another perhaps wheezing its Gucci-laden last.

Prince, a matinee-style flick based on a video game, barely muscled its way past Carrie and her longtime SATC cohorts, $37.8 million to $37.1 million over the four-day holiday weekend. For Prince, second place was an OK consolation prize, though Disney probably hoped the film, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, might pull in Pirates of the Caribbean-type numbers—the last franchise on which Bruckheimer and Disney teamed up. Developers were clearly hoping Princewould be a franchise-starter (evidenced in part by the little colon in the middle of its title) and spawn themed toys, rides and perhaps a Disney Channel musical starring Nick Jonas as Dastan. Unless business stays strong, I don’t know if we’ll see a big rush on Prince of Persia toothbrushes.

Meanwhile, SATC2 had originally been favored by some pundits to walk away with the win this weekend. But much of the franchise’s remaining core audience apparently watched the thing Wednesday at midnight or Thursday, depleting the weekend’s numbers. And the film’s delightfully scathing reviews didn’t help draw new folks to the theaters. “Thanks to writer-director Michael Patrick King,” writes Cliff Doerksen of the Chicago Reader, “I now have a fair idea how it might feel to be stoned to death with scented candles.”

Which makes Plugged In’s own review strangely ironic.

No, we didn’t “like” SATC2. Reviewer Meredith Whitmore found the whole thing physically painful to sit through, and I personally hope that the film’s poor performance means we’ve seen the last of these Manhattan fashionistas. But in the midst of a hedonistic film that’s part of a reasonably moral-free franchise, Meredith and Steven Isaac found enough ethical oomph to piece together nine paragraphs in our SATC2 review’s “positive elements” section. Nine paragraphs! Who would’ve thunk it?