Enlarge New Line Cinema Older, slightly wiser: Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) in Sex and the City. 
Mamma Mia!“> EnlargeUniversal StudiosMoney, money, money: Donna (Meryl Streep), left, and Rosie (Julie Walters) in Mamma Mia! The demure strides taken by such hot-weather predecessors for example 2001’s The Princess Diaries, 2003’s Freaky Friday and 2006’s The Devil Wears Prada — each of which broke the $100 million box-office barrier — were easily upstaged by the high-stepping brazenness of summer’s TV-spun Sex and the City and the ABBA-loaded Mamma Mia!.
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Sex and the City
Set first-weekend record: $57.0 million. The opening was good enough to become the top-grossing R-rated comedy of all time and to bump Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull from the No. 1 spot.
Spotlighted women over 40: Average age of the four Sex leads was 45.
Drew older woman: The opening-night crowd was 87% women, and 80% of the audience was 25 and older.
Mamma Mia!
Set first-weekend record: $27.8 million. The shoot is the best for a musical, beating out last year’s Hairspray, and its first-to-second weekend drop in grosses is among the year’s smallest.
Spotlighted women over 40: Average age of Mamma’s main trio was 58.
Drew older woman: First-weekend audiences were 75% female, and 66% of the attendees were 35 and older.
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