Sex spells success at US cinemas

Sarah Jessica Parker and Jennifer Hudson on Sex and the City and Yves Saint Laurent

Sarah Jessica Parker and her Sex and the City co-stars have scored a number one at the US and Canada box office.

The film, which reunites the cast of the hit TV series, took $55.7m (£28.3m) in its opening weekend, according to estimated figures.

Movie studio Warner Brothers had expected it to make only $30m (£15.2m). Indiana Jones slipped to second place with takings of $46m (£23m), while horror film The Strangers debuted at three on $20.7m (£10.5m).

Sex and the City's box office haul is the biggest in US cinema history for an R-rated comedy - beating the likes of American Pie and There's Something About Mary.

NORTH AMERICAN BOX OFFICE 1 Sex and the City - $55.7m (£28.3m) 2 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - $46m (£23m) 3 The Strangers - $20.7m (£10.5m) 4 Iron Man - $14m (£7.1m) 5 Prince Caspian - $13m (£6.6m) Figures are for Friday to Monday. Source: Media By Numbers

"This is a blockbuster for women," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers, which compiles the box office statistics.

"This was to women what Indiana Jones and Star Wars, let's say, are to men."

Sex and the City creator Darren Star, who served as a producer on the movie, said it was too early to talk about a possible sequel.

But he noted that "women of all ages are following the journeys of these characters".

The success of the film will come as a welcome relief to Warner Brothers, which recently suffered a high-profile flop with Speed Racer - which languished at number eight in this week's chart.

Elsewhere in the rundown, superhero film Iron Man dropped one place to number four, while Narnia sequel Prince Caspian fell from two to five.

Comedies accounted much of the rest of the top ten with Cameron Diaz's What Happens In Vegas at six, followed by Baby Mama at seven, Made of Honor at nine and Forgetting Sarah Marshall at ten.