Sex and the City - Will it be the Biggest Women's Movie Ever?

Building on this thread over at cinematical Will 'Sex and the City' Quietly Become Summer's Biggest Hit?, I must respectful disagree about the word quiet. There is nothing quiet about this movie. People are going nuts. In fact, they've been going nuts since the film was shot, where people were lining the streets during the shoot.

The only thing that's been quiet is the fact that none of the plot details have been revealed. I'm on the internet all day long and I have found nothing. I've never seen anything like it for a film about women. It's like people actually want this film to succeed. Writers like ones in the NY Post and the NY Daily News have written reviews without revealing anything; bloggers and who are usually so keen on breaking news about plots are not writing anything either. I bet that part of it is that the guy bloggers who are usually the news breakers really don't care much about the film film because it is well, about women.

The film is ironically being released by New Line which is going out of business and will be subsumed (after the requisite job losses) by Warner Brothers run by Hollywood's resident admitted sexist, Jeff Robinov (see my earlier posts on him: Do Women Matter to Hollywood?)

So I'm thinking, can this be the biggest women's film ever?

What's interesting to note is that in the summer one really big film opens on each weekend. Women's films are never considered really big, but this film is, because there is no real competition opening on its weekend. Granted, Indiana Jones opens the week before and there will be many people still wanting to see that film, but Sex and the City has its own weekend. That is a story in itself.

I've looked at the numbers of how other women's films have opened and I really think this movie can break the records. I think that the film (depending on how many screens it opens on) can open with 50 m.

The top grossing opening weekends of movies starring women are:

• Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - 47 m (Angelina Jolie)
• Charlie's Angels- 40 m (Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, Lucy Lui)
• Sweet Home Alabama- 35 m (Reese Witherspoon)
• Panic Room- 30 m (Jodie Foster)
• The Devil Wears Prada- 27 m (Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway)
• Erin Brockovich- 28 m (Julia Roberts)
• V for Vendetta- 25 m (Natalie Portman)
• Flightplan - 24 m (Jodie Foster)
• Mean Girls- 24 m (Lindsay Lohan)
• Double Jeopardy- 23 m (Ashley Judd)
• Princess Diaries- 22 m (Anne Hathaway)
• Freaky Friday- 22 m (Lindsay Lohan, Jamie Lee Curtis)
  

So, as Oprah said on her lovefest for the film last week, (and she also said that she has never not shown the ending of the film to the audience) take your girlfriends and head to the theatres on May 30th.

Women will make or break this film. Because of the big buzz and hype this film can be a changemaker. We have the added bonus in that the film is supposedly really good.

I am psyched, a movie about women, the celebrates women, that's actually a good movie. Can't wait.

Stay tuned for part 2 - a discussion of Sex and the City and feminism.

Comments

[Gingerously]

i don't tolerate people who say "not this woman," yet here i am saying "not this movie."

[BookQueen]

Oddly, I always felt like the TV show was a great big ad for how much better off you were if you'd gotten married. I can't figure out why people think it promotes being single.

[NoSillyName]

Ms. Silverstein, surely you jest. I know plenty of women and none of them are interested in this tripe.

[mamacat]

I have little interest in this movie, but I know a few women who were crazy in love with the TV series.

[NicoleAnonymous]

I'm not sure it's really about a movie that "celebrates" women - the characters are so self-absorbed that they only talk about themselves or their relationships. It's appropriate they never mentioned the terrorist attacks on the show because those women would be out shopping for shoes. They aren't interested in politics or history or the environment or any most of the world. I once watched it just to keep track of the non-caucasian charcters on the show. Apparently, just like "The Hills" only white women are interesting.

It also seemed like it was about gay men - none of the women I know talk the way those women do. I would be shocked if most of the writers on the show weren't gay men.

And why do we have to classify movies as "women's" movies anyway? I want to see Iron Man more than SATC.

[DocManhattan]

'V for Vendetta' listed among the top-grossing "movies starring women", as if gender issues were even a factor there? Did you actually see it? Sure Natalie Portman was a major character, but, 'V' was actually played by Hugo Weaving ...

So on what basis do you distinguish a "movie starring women" from a "movie with female stars in it"? 'Cause Natalie Portman was a major character in the last Star Wars movie too, you know.

I don't care much about 'Sex in the City'. It gives me the creeps and my wife says she finds the tv show's portrayal of women rather insulting.

[ProfessorDuh]

Sorry. Tony Stark already has it beaten.