So a new Sex in the City movie is coming out. This will be the third film in the franchise... But with one big difference.
Apparently their budget was too small to get Kim Cattrall (aka Samantha Jones) to come back and put up with Sarah Jessica Parker's personal brand of Karenism and workplace abuse.
That's right, I said it. SJP is a Karen and creates a toxic work environment for her coworkers. It is why Kim Cattrall didn't even want to work with her in the previous two films, so they offered her a lot of money and relatively few scenes where they were together on set.
Now I have to admit the following...
I have seen every episode of the show plus both previous films, and Kim Cattrall's character is certainly my favourite.
In fact. She is everyone's favourite. The other three characters are barely likeable.
And this is why the 3rd film is guaranteed to fail. Doomed. Without Kim Cattrall the core audience of fans will stay away and won't bother to see the 3rd film.
The first film (2008) had a budget of $65 million and brought in $418.8 million at the box office. Which was a whopping success (and got 49% on Rotten Tomatoes, so the fans at least mostly liked it), so, of course, they had to make a sequel.
The second film (2010) had a budget of $95 million and brought in $294.6 million at the box office.
So the 2nd film still made a good $200 million in profit (minus unknown marketing costs), but it only got 15% on Rotten Tomatoes which tells you that even the fans of the show hated it. (I know I did.)
The other problem with the loss of Kim Cattrall is the male factor...
While Sex and the City is certainly within the "chick flick" series of movies, there are percentage of men who watch it (like myself), often because their wife or girlfriend wants to watch it. Plus there is a percentage of gay men who also watch the show/films...
The male factor is a contributor to potential sales. Not a big contributor, but certainly part of the whole. Without Kim Cattrall that male contribution to sales will be nothing or close to nothing.
Coupled with decreasing interest from both female and male viewers, even if they made a third film with a budget of $100 million I doubt they would even make back $50 million of that budget.
When are they going to stop making these films? Are they just going to revisit the same characters every 10 years until the actresses die? Or will they reboot it with younger actors (like Star Trek did)? That could flop if done wrong.
Plus does anyone really want to watch 4 white women in their 40s or 50s or 60s parade around in fancy clothes with their male counterparts who are taking viagra just to keep up with their wives' sexual appetites? Probably not. I think this franchise is doomed to die.
Time to just let it die.
UPDATE / July 2021
It was recently reported in July 2021 that the third film might not even get made after all. Producers don't want to commit $100 million to a film that without Kim Cattrall is doomed to lose money.
Basically this is the same news from 2017 when another earlier attempt to make a third film fell flat, for the same reason. They couldn't get Kim Cattrall to sign the contract because SJP is such a Karen that the only way Kim Cattrall will work with her is if she is offered oodles of money.
Honestly... They should just give her the money... and a percentage of the total from ticket sales and distribution sales. And make her an executive producer so that she has more creative control over the final product.
Even then, even if it did get made, I still suspect it would be a financial flop.
Just let it die already.
