Battle of the Sexes?

Hello everyone, I  am back from vacation  -- more on that in a later post. 

But far more importantly than my new tan, my spouse and I have been having a disagreement.  We both have been to two recent films: Sex and the City and Iron Man.  And we have been talking about them both.  However our interpretations have been quite different on how these films have been doing.

I, as one might imagine, really liked Iron Man.  In fact, I liked both films for different reasons.  But my spouse commented that Sex and the City is a far more successful and interesting film.  I responded that Sex and the City will struggle to make 100 million domestically and because of that, will not be as successful as Iron Man which domestically has made twice what it cost. 

As I understand from reading the trade papers, the makers of Sex and the City are happy with the opening gross and are already talking sequel.  Personally, while I enjoyed the film I thought that the take was disappointing.  Imagine any other 60-70 million dollar production with as much press, not making its cost back in the opening weekend.  Wouldn't we be talking about a bomb? Or at least a film that did not live up to expectations?

And sure, the film will undoubtedly turn a profit but not a large one from the perspective of the studios.  And yes, I realize that success can not always be a simple measure of how many dollars a film generates from tickets.

Of course, this focus on the grosses does not work for independent films and I believe should not be applied to film as a work of artistic license.  What intrigues me though is whether this difference of opinion reflects a gendered disagreement on success -- interpretations that differ between women and men? 

If so, I think there is something instructive here.  On one hand, there are Senator Clinton's supporters who seem invested in a reinterpreting the entirety of the Clinton campaign and crafting a singular interpretation of what is a successful campaign. Something which strikes me (and please feel free to disagree) as an almost close seems to count mentality.   What about party unity?

On the other hand, we have Senator Obama's supporters who are focused on the actual numbers of the specific math -- a sort of  'we have the numbers and only by arguing over how the math was done can the Clinton campaign win the nomination. '  Again, what about party unity?

Do these different interpretations reflect a similar gender divide?  Or are they outside of gender?  Is it about what success means? Or is it some other kind of interpretation over what a film or -- far more importantly -- what a campaign means when it calls itself a success?