Fan Fare

Sex and the City 2: the trailer — Penelope, Miley and gasp, Aiden?

Set to the ubiquitous Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ tribute to a dazzling New York, the “Sex and the City 2” promotional trailer was released Friday, and fans were left salivating at the prospect that the ladies, who always loved cosmos, are rapidly turning into ladies who love many other things. That is, Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Charlotte (Kristin Davis), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Samantha (Kim Cattrall) are returning with more babies, and another exotic trip, this time to the Middle East.

But the biggest surprise in the long trailer (which you can watch below) was the appearance of John Corbett, aka Aiden, who, coincidentally seems to be strolling through Abu Dhabi at the same time as Carrie and bumps into her tanned and in a light shirt, cooing, “This is the best mirage that I have ever had.”

But let’s face it, realism is never why we watched the fashionable girls who whispered what others didn’t dare.  Not only does Aiden make an unlikely return, but there’s Penelope Cruz tantalizing Mr. Big , there’s Liza Minnelli thrusting her arms into the air, and even Miley Cyrus (predictably there to pull-in younger audiences), on the red carpet lapping up the attention with, who else?  Samantha.

The real question is, Can the girls do it again at the box office second time around? (The first cost film around $65 million to make and raked in $415 worldwide, with foreign box office an impressive $262 million).  How much will their staple female audience, (who these days are so enamored with the girls they seem to still want to see them grown up and softened for the big screen),  care that there are less sexual fantasies and jokes that no longer leave them shocked?

Hugh Grant, Sarah Jessica Parker movie flops — few noticed

“No” appears to be the resounding response when someone mentions the new movie “Did You Hear About the Morgans?” The interrogative fish-out-of-water comedy starring Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker, earned just $7 million at the weekend box office in North America, coming in at No. 4.

The good news is that few fans seemed to really noticed, because all eyes were on “Avatar,” which opened to $73 million. It was a savvy scheduling move by Columbia Pictures that just didn’t work out. If “Morgans” had done well, the studio could have hailed it as a bold counterprogramming move.

But no one had great hopes for ”Morgans,” with prognosticators forecasting a tally in the $10 million range. Critics panned it. The only positive notice among 16 top critics polled by Rotten Tomatoes came from the New York Times, whose review was hardly enthusiastic. Grant and Parker play a bickering couple relocated to the U.S. sticks (i.e. Wyoming) under the Federal Witness Protection Program. The film’s writer-director, Marc Lawrence,  previously worked with Grant in “Music and Lyrics” and “Two Weeks Notice.”

Columbia said the film tended to appeal to older women, but Fox’s “Avatar” played surprisingly strongly to old folks (i.e. people older than 25) and women, as well. At least the film did better than a similar-skewing comedy-drama “Everybody’s Fine,” starring Robert De Niro, which opened to $3.9 million earlier this month and has earned $8.8 million to date. Next up for this quality-conscious demo is writer/director Nancy Meyers’ Christmas Day comedy “It’s Complicated,” starring Meryl Streep, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin.

“Sex and the City” fans can shop Carrie’s closet

Fans of “Sex and the City” rejoice — Patricia Field, stylist for the hit television series and movie, has created a clothing collection based on the wardrobes of characters Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte.

And Field says breaking to the closets of the “Sex and the City” ladies won’t break your bank. Prices range from $39 to about $200. “You don’t have to get a mortgage to afford them,” she told Reuters . “Money doesn’t make style.”

Field showcased her Destination Style New York collection, which will be available on the Home Shopping Network, at a catwalk show during New York Fashion Week.

“Sex and the City” chronicled the lives of four single women living in New York City and ended in 2004 but returned with a blockbuster hit movie this year. For six seasons American women tuned into HBO to see what Carrie, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, and her friends were  wearing, from expensive Manolo Blahnik sling-back shoes to apparel from high-end designers such as Jean Paul Gaultier.

(Reporting by Jan Paschal; picture: Fabrizio Bensch, Reuters)

NY Fashion Week campaigns for style, Lohan shows support

 As the Nov. 4 U.S. presidential election draws near, New York’s Fashion Week has launched its own campaign — for style.

The entrance to the tents at Bryant Park in Midtown Manhattan, where designers are showing their spring/summer 2009 collections, are painted with large campaign-like badges that read “Declare your Style,” “Fashion = Change,” “Vote Fashion, “Super Model Delegate,” and “Accessorize for Democracy.”

And this week Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s campaign is holding a fundraiser, due to be attended by top designers who have created merchandise for sale on the Obama Web site. Actress Sarah Jessica Parker and Vogue Editor Anna Wintour are said to be special guests for the evening.

Some designers, too,  have declared more than just their style on the runway. Liz McClean sent her final model down the catwalk on Friday wearing a Barack Obama campaign badge. Charlotte Ronson took on a different cause with her show Saturday sponsored by The Humane Society of the United States, which beamed its logo onto walls either side of the runway.

Ronson’s collection attracted a lot of attention with her DJ brother Mark providing music for the show, and DJ sister Samantha sitting in the front row with gal pal Lindsay Lohan.

U.S. tennis player Andy Roddick checked out the Lacoste show on Saturday, while Friday night Australian actress Melissa George and “Prison Break” star Camille Guaty graced the front row at Nicole Miller.

But the fashion and celebrities aren’t always center of attention.

Sarah Jessica Parker says so long to mole

Actress Sarah Jessica Parker, star of the hit television show and movie “Sex and the City,” has departed the ranks of Cindy Crawford and Eva Mendes by having a signature mole – that’s a beauty mark to Cindy and Eva – on her face removed.

(The mole is barely visible on Sarah Jessica’s chin in the picture on the left, but missing in the one on the right).      A source close to the actress on Thursday confirmed that Parker, 43, had the mole removed but this source could not say why.      Parker was first noticed without her mole this week at an event tied to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium in New York.      The actress, a native of Ohio, began her career as a teenager and gained major starpower portraying a single woman, Carrie Bradshaw, who is looking for love in New York on HBO comedy “Sex and the City,” which is no longer on air.       A movie version of the show opened on May 30, and has proven to be a box office hit with a total haul of $370 million, so far, around the world. Throngs of mostly female fans have turned out in droves to see the latest adventures of Bradshaw and her coterie of friends. If they look during her close-ups, they’ll likely recognize her mole. It will be the last time.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis)

HBO eager for more big-screen ‘Sex in the City’

Ladies, get ready to gulp more Cosmopolitans. Enthused by the box office success of the recent “Sex and the City” movie, HBO executives are working with distributor Warner Bros. to lay the groundwork for a big-screen sequel. That word from HBO’s programming president, Michael Lombardo, who told a group of TV critics yesterday that interest in a follow-up film at Warner Bros. is “enormous.” Think Mr. Big.

“They’re trying with our help to put that together now,” he said. “Everybody associated with that project was really heartened by the enthusiasm from fans …  so absolutely — there’s a lot of energy behind thinking about another ‘Sex and the City’ movie.” As for when the film might materialize, he added, “I can’t say.”

Warner Bros. had nothing official to add, though a studio insider said plans for a “Sex” sequel were only in their infancy. The first film is still playing at the multiplex.

Coming to theaters four years after ending their six-season run on HBO, columnist Carrie Bradshaw (played by Sarah Jessica Parker) and her gal pals unleashed a frenzy among the show’s female fans, who organized large catherings to catch up with their heroines’ exploits. The movie also proved a marketing bonanza for designer merchandise. Since its May 30 release, the film has grossed nearly $345 million worldwide, easily ranking as one of the biggest chick flicks of all time.