“Sex” Fans To Critics: Drop Dead!
Variety is reporting this morning that the “Sex and the City” movie is estimated to have grossed $20 million on its opening day — and that’s just domestic numbers. At this pace, it will do at least $200-250 million in the U.S. and another $300-350 million overseas. And what does all this mean? 1) Movies targeted at women over 25 can be successful, although Hollywood execs will undoubtedly try to diminish this point of view by saying that “Sex” is a unique phenomenon; 2) “Sex” is not going to be the biggest “chick flick” of all time. That honor goes to “Titanic,” which may have drawn guys to the cinema because of the boat sinking but was at heart an old-fashioned women’s weepie; and 3) Unless you’re marketing an art film set in Latvia, reviews don’t matter. All those women who ditched work and lined up all over the country yesterday afternoon couldn’t care less what the New York Times and every other establishment-media outlet thinks of Carrie Bradshaw. They only care what they themselves think — and when they exited the theater they text-exulted to 10 of their friends. (In fact, they were probably texting their friends throughout the screenings: text messaging has become a prime reason to avoid seeing films in a movie theatre.)
