No, I do not expect the fine folks at Aint It Cool to actually like the Sex and the City movie, but in their not so kind review, blogger Massawyrm makes an interesting point. He refers to SATC as an event film. When I think of event films, the following come to mind. The recent Star Wars trilogy, Lord of the Rings, Spiderman 1-18, Iron Man, Transformers, Cloverfield, Harry Potter, maybe even a Shrek film or some such for kids. But in racking my brain, it was hard to come up with any that were really targeted to women. So are destination/event films just made for guys and kids? The 2006 and 2007 top grossing film lists would seem to bear this out. Something like Titanic is more the anomaly than the norm.
Sure a lot of women went to and enjoyed Spidey, but was the movie really geared towards women? Naw, it was for those little boys who used to read the comics as a kid and have grown up wanting to relive that childhood or the current younger boy set who don't ever read...anything.
Well we may see that change. It would not surprise me to see SJP and co on top of the charts next week after this week's opening. Granted many men may stay away, but the number of comments that I have heard that boil down to "I don't expect my boyfriend to come, but me and my 7 girlfriends are all going opening night" may prove that big event films for women are overdue. No, I do not expect the film to do Indiana Jones numbers, but I do expect it to far out perform Baby Mama numbers.
So what are the properties that Hollywood will be reaching into the closet to bring out for women if this movie hits big? Is there a Desperate Housewives movie ready to go? Wonder Woman? Golden Girls?
Is it that women are more comfortable leaving behind their childhood crushes than men are and therefore a new Strawberry Shortcake action adventure is not seen as a lucrative proposition?
Too early to tell but very interesting to watch.
UPDATE: This just in. London women keep men out of the theater! well sorta..
