The box-office numbers for “Magic Mike XXL” — which took in $12 million over the weekend — were underwhelming except for one: the audience was 96 percent female. The low-budget Warner Bros.

Channing Tatum is America's sweetheart. All he does is win, win, win. Even when you think he has taken on a dud or a sequel that couldn't possibly live up to the original, he and the films in which he performs have a way of shocking you with excitement. This is true, as well, of Magic Mike XXL, a sequel to Tatum's coming out party to Hollywood stardom and a film that, biggest shock of them all, surpasses its predecessor.

Well, it’s certainly bigger. It’s also a fair bit bulgier, too, and in almost all of the wrong places. “Magic Mike XXL,” the inevitable sequel to Steven Soderbergh’s surprisingly think-y and bracingly well-made “Magic Mike,” plunges us back into the wild world of male strippers – The Kings Of Tampa, though they’re not so majestic anymore–for “one last ride” together (that ride, of course, will take place on a variety of ladies’ laps, as the code of strippers dictates).

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Usually. But when you’re in a Sin City bar with the six stars of Magic Mike XXL—Channing Tatum, 35, Matt Bomer, 37, Joe Manganiello, 38, Kevin Nash, 55, Adam Rodriguez, 40, and franchise newcomer Stephen “tWitch” Boss, 32,...

Steven Soderbergh’s Magic Mike was a thoughtful examination of the American dream, but of course the real draw was the gyrating hardbodies on stage. So far, Magic Mike XXL seems to be leaning into that raunchy appeal, with a marketing campaign heavy on half-naked torsos and naughty puns. Not that we’re complaining. The newest Magic Mike XXL trailer continues in the same vein, commenting on how hard (wink wink) it was to resist showing off all the best parts (nudge nudge) of the movie.