Not even the abs of Jake Gyllenhaal could boost the movie version of the Prince of Persia game series to the top of the box office for the Memorial Day weekend. The Associated Press (yia Yahoo) reports that Prince of Persia The Sands of Time could only manage a third place finish in the box office in its debut weekend with $30.2 million.

That amount was behind the second place position of Sex and the City 2 with $32.1 million and first place's Shrek Forever After with $43.3 million. Even with the modest opening Prince of Persia The Sands of Time still had the third biggest box office opening for a video game-based movie, according to Box Office Mojo. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is still number one at $47.7 million while (ugh) Pokemon: The First Movie is number two with $31 million.

Update: While the movie came in third in the box office here in the US, The Hollywood Reporter states Prince of Persia did much better overseas,bringing in $59 million from all of its international theaters this weekend and taking first place. The movie so far has earned $87.5 million overseas (it opened a week earlier than here in the US).