Box Office Predictions: FAILURE

Obviously, I still have a bit to learn about what guarantees box office success. I was 0 for 3 in my picks. To recap:

1. Prince Caspian
2. Sex & the City
3. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Now, if I wanted to put a good, ol' PR spin on it, I could point out that I picked two out of the three movies correctly. But when I look at the picture as a whole, it looks pretty dismal. The real numbers:

1. Sex and the City ($55.7 million)
2. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ($46 million)
3. The Strangers ($20.7 million)

Rounding out the top 5 were Iron Man with $14 million and my beloved Prince Caspian with $13 million. I will point out that that sales for Sex & the City fell nearly 67 percent from Friday to Saturday, so it doesn't look like this one will have staying power. I will also point out that my fellow Saturday morning moviegoers and I did our part for Prince Caspian, comfortably filling the theatre for an 11:40 a.m. showing.

While I'm on the subject of movies, here's a rundown of what I've watched lately and how they fared (out of 5 stars):

• Prince Caspian (three times now): upgraded to 4 stars
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (twice): 3 stars
• Almost Famous: 4 stars
• Michael Clayton: 3 ½ stars
• The Nines: 3 stars
  

On tap for this week: The Savages, Into the Wild and probably Sex & the City because I promised by sister I'd go with her.

Also a quick reading update: I've took a slight detour from Jitterbug Perfume to read Prince Caspian since I couldn't recall having done so. I very much enjoyed it, though I think I actually like the screen adaptation a little better. The characters are fleshed out on screen in a way that's a little more realistic to me. This, of course, could be colored by the fact that I saw it on screen before I read it. I'm going to read The Voyage of the Dawn Treader before the movie comes out, but I've got plenty of time to do that. Unfortunately, during that detour I apparently misplaced my copy of Jitterbug Perfume. Until I find it, I've picked up Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. I'm 25 pages in, and so far, so good.