New Poll Suggests 'Sex' More Appealing To May Moviegoers Than Superheroes And Fast Cars
Happy May Day. Why? Aside from May flowers, this month will finally bring some answers regarding all those conflicting box office predictions made in the trades weeks ago: will the upcoming back-to-back openings of Iron Man, Speed Racer, Prince Caspian and Indy 4 crush recession worries as Variety predicted? Or is the 19% decline in spring grosses only going to continue, as THR suggested mid-April? Well, the folks at Moviefone have provided us with a bit of guidance in the form of a poll measuring audience anticipation. And despite early rave reviews for Downey Jr.'s performance in Iron Man, the scores of kids aching for more Narnia adventures and testosterone-invigorating posters for Indy 4, it seems the majority of audience-goers only want to talk about Sex, baby.
Among the many questions in the poll, the most revealing one asked the 420,000 respondents which May release they were "most excited" about. And surprisingly, the gals of SATC: The Movie won the majority with 32%. Sadly for Iron Man, especially considering today is the day when Robert Downey Jr. will begin charming audiences with his Third World-loving superhero, Indy 4 came in second with 31%. Sadder still, Iron Man only won over 7% of pollsters in this category. But Speed Racer actually fared worst in the poll, with only 2% saying they were most excited for the Wachowski brothers' car racing flick.
The Moviefone poll's other most revealing question asked which male and female stars they "most wanted to see" throughout the entire summer blockbuster season. Mirroring the first question's results, Sarah Jessica Parker and Harrison Ford took top honors, and once again Iron Man fell short. Following Ford was the late Heath Ledger, whose role in The Dark Knight "would likely draw curiosity seekers" to the chillingly fantastic-looking flick, according to Moviefone's Editor in Chief, Scott Robson. (Insert any variation of "Duh" here, since we'd rather not.) But there is one (yes, one!) silver lining for RDJr. this thrilling morning: 22% of pollsters said he is the "superhero they're most psyched to see." So...there's that!