'Sex and the City' Debuts Strong in Other Cities

It's a head-scratcher, that's for sure. Sex and the City, a TV series-turned-movie so in love with New York that it's right there in the title, opened first in England and France. Go figure. But it didn't just open, Sex made a big splash on its opening day, earning just under $5 million. That might not seem like much by American standards, but we have a lot more theaters, as you might suspect. So if you adjust the 1,000 theaters in which Sex and the City debuted Wednesday to meet its American allotment of 3,100 screens, that equates to something like $45 million over a three-day weekend. Girl power! And let's not forget that Sex and the City is a distinctly American product, and while it can play well overseas for a number of reasons, it should have an even deeper outpouring of love here at home. Can it hit $45 million in its opening weekend? We'll cover this more tomorrow when we break down our fearless box office forecast, but the short answer is maybe, maybe not. Competition is a main ingredient there, but I can't see it doing any worse than $38 - $40 million. Sure, men drive blockbusters, but as Variety points out, look at the success of The Devil Wears Prada, which it achieved with barely a fraction of the built-in audience of Carrie Bradshaw. The main secret for Sex and the City, however, will be business that follows its opening weekend. It's one of the very, very few movies all summer aimed at adult women, and it should continue to do well for at least six weeks based on that. Hell, if Baby Mama is pushing $60 million, just imagine what Sex and the City can do.