Shrek 4 Beats SATC Sequel

In a battle of weakly reviewed sequels, Shrek: The Final Chapter beat the hotly anticipated Sex and the City 2 at the box office Memorial Day weekend, bringing in $43.3 million so far. SATC 2 was expected to steamroll its animated competition, but as the weekend wore on it grossed only $32 million Friday through Sunday. (Although it would have won the weekend box office if it hadn’t opened on Thursday—it’s brought in $46 million in four days.) Viewers for the film sequel were 90 percent female, a jump from the first film’s 83 percent female audience. Coming in third place was videogame adaptation Prince of Persia, featuring a long-haired Jake Gyllenhaal in an Iraq-war parable set in ancient times, which grossed $30.1 million.