Quick question: Who is the black sheep? What is the black sheep? Don’t know who I am or when I’m coming? So you sleep.

THE NERDS ARE WRONG AND RIGHT

I’m a contrarian (mother’s side), so I like to fight against popular opinion, and present the opposite side of things. This was tough early on when some people were suggesting that they didn’t think or understand that Sex and the City would be a monster hit, and it spoke to the stereotypes of nerdery. This opinion was so thoroughly challenged I wanted to embrace it. But make no mistake at this late date, the TV show Sex and the City was something like a phenomenon (tellin’ your body to come along) that really appealed to women in a way that many shows geared at women did not. It was frank in a way that was empowering, and was a social phenomenon. This should never be doubted or questioned, a good number of women loved this show, and it spoke to a modernized female sexuality that put women in charge of sex, and showed that they could be as interested in fucking as men, and maybe even moreso. But these weren’t the borderline rapists of Russ Meyer’s fantasyland, these were women who wanted men to be awesome in the sack, and/or have money. They had nothing against using men as fuck toys, and had nothing against fuck toys, experimentation with other women, and had no problem talking about width, depth and duration. They may have wanted courtly love on one level, but they’d probably rather have (for a couple nights at least) a guy with a swinging member who knew how to use it. For the record, I have no problem with this, my issue was that (to these eyes at least) it played like it was written by gay men for drag queens to play.

Perhaps it would be just as easy to paint the population who may have been unaware of the cultural saturation of the show as afraid of the show (and women for that matter) as it is any other cultural stereotype. Saying nerds don’t understand women, is akin to suggesting all Asains are bad drivers. And though there may be some truth to the former, for the nerdcore, tracking the possibilty of a film like that’s success at the box office or downplaying it is easy. And there’s a good reason to suggest as much: the box office has done little to court a female audience in some time.

Sure, they’re date movies, but they have become increasingly geared towards men (Notting Hill, Love Actually, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind are more male fantasies) and/or do modest business (Made of Honor) with people like Julia Roberts and even Jennifer Lopez sidelined. Ironically, what kept the film business going in the early days, and through much of the 50’s and 60’s was the female population. Women’s pictures, melodramas, were the way to go.

Keep that in mind when the paradigm shifts away from the 14-34 year old male.

The other way geeks are wrong and right is with The Foot Fist Way, which opens on four screens on Friday. The conundrum of a film like this is that the only way people are going to see it is if sites like Chud drum up interest. Which leads to a sense of being overhyped. And yet, these films would get no attention otherwise unless sites like Chud hyped the shit out of them. In a way, it’s unfortunate that some readers don’t understand that, that need to put things on a radar that advertising doesn’t. But most audiences don’t understand the concept of voting with dollars. Hence the modern box office. But if people complain that Chud oversold the film, well, it’s a small thing, but funny is funny.

THE HUMANS ARE DEAD ( I SAID THEY ARE DEAD). WE USED PREDICTION GASSES, AND PREDICTED THEIR ASSES.

It might be tight, it might not. Sex and the City is pre-sold, and the fact that it is long, and that many reviews have not been kind do not really matter this weekend. Some are reporting record early ticket sales, especially for a title like this. The question is if it’s a East Coast/West Coast thing, and the mid-west doesn’t care. I don’t think so: it’s not a political/smart/urban show in total (Friends was also huge throughout the country) and I’ve found many middle aged people – who don’t have to worry about the meat market – find the show hil-arious. Then there’s Indy. Hey guys, this isn’t hateful, most films that open Memorial Day weekend tumble 60% at minimum. Since the three day was just $100. So a 60% tumble would be $40 million. No one would be crazy enough to suggest less, right? I’m just that crazy.

So here’s my crazy face. Riding on the crazy train:

1. Sex and the City – $44.7 Million
2. Indiana Jones and the Unwieldy Title – $38.3 Million
3. Iron Man – $13.5 Million
4. Prince Caspian – $10.4 Million
5. The Strangers – $10.1 Million
 
Sunday I’ll ride the crazy train, or the white horse (if you want to ride it), or whatever.