It was grizzled masculinity versus shopping-obsessed, emotionally-open womanhood at the box office this week -- yep; Indy Jones battled Carrie Bradshaw, with the archeologist ousting the Monolo Blahnik-clad Manhattan socialite from the top spot only two weeks into its run.

Without wishing to stereotype (but we will anyway), women -- many with their bedraggled boyfriends -- flocked to theatres nationwide see the cinematic continuation of the hit TV show Sex and the City, earning studio Entertainment Film Distributors almost £9 million in its first three days of release.

Critics weren't entirely sure about the film - many found the movie overlong and thought it added little new material to the ground covered in the long-running HBO series -- yet most conceded that the show's army of fans (approximately 95% of the female population) would still lap it up.

Sex and the City's success will have bought Paramount's Indy IV down to earth with a bump, after the movie's spectacular opening numbers last week. The film still did very respectable business -- raking in over £5 million -- but this was still down over 50% from last week. Dare we say it; maybe word of mouth about the film -- which has been fairly negative -- has gotten around and is beginning to affect the box office performance.

Meanwhile, the other films released last Friday didn't have a hope of competing against these money-making titans; duff niche comedies Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay and Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins predictably tanked in a wave of non-publicity.