With Saturday's opening of Sex and the City shaping up as a big girls-night-out event at US movie theatres, industry analysts say the film seems poised to set a new box office standard for "chick flicks".
Estimates for the film's first weekend in North America range from $US25 million ($A26.17 million) to $US40 million ($A41.87 million) and one leading tracking service, Los Angeles-based Media By Numbers, estimated a Friday-through-Sunday tally in the mid-$US30 millions ($A31.40 million).
Online ticket retailer Fandango reported Sex and the City was accounting for 90 per cent of its advance sales, with tickets being snapped up at the rate of seven per second.
"At this fast pace, we expect to sell out more than 1,000 Sex and the City show times by day's end," said Fandango CEO Rick Butler. "The advance ticket sales are nothing short of extraordinary for a female-driven comedy-drama."
Sex already has grossed nearly $US12 million ($A12.56 million) in overseas business since mid-week, including more than $US7 million ($A7.33 million) in Britain, nearly $US3 million ($A3.14 million) in Germany and $US1.3 million ($A1.36 million) in France, according to studio figures.
Sex and the City opens in Australian cinemas this Thursday, June 5.
The film is based on the hit HBO television series of the same name starring Sarah Jessica Parker as a fashion-conscious, Manhattan magazine columnist, Carrie Bradshaw, writing about urban romance and the singles scene.
Carrie and her three best pals - Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha - are all picking up their lives where they left off when the TV show went off the air in 2004.
An online survey of more than 10,000 moviegoers buying tickets from Fandango found that 94 per cent were women and that 67 per cent planned to attend the movie this weekend with a group of female friends.
That translates to a lot of women swarming theatres after downing Cosmopolitans - a favoured cocktail of the Sex and the City women - notwithstanding early mixed reviews.
But Brandon Gray, president of the movie website Box Office Mojo, said the commercial potential may be limited by a promotional campaign aimed primarily at the devoted but finite female fan base of the TV show.
"Because the marketing is preaching to the converted, one wonders whether it will have legs beyond the opening," Gray told Reuters.
The film opens in nearly 3,300 North American theatres. Perhaps the closest comparison for a female-skewing, fashion-themed, big-screen "dramedy" set in New York is The Devil Wears Prada, which opened in more than 2,800 theatres in 2006 with $US27.5 million ($A28.79 million) its first weekend.
That film went on to gross $US124.8 million ($A130.64 million) in its domestic run, said Paul Dergarabedian, head of Media By Numbers.
But "Devil" was aimed at younger audiences, whereas Sex and the City is targeted at moviegoers aged 17 and older.
Moreover, Sex and the City is expected to play second fiddle this weekend to blockbuster holdover Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which grossed over $US100 million ($A104.68 million) from its first Friday-through-Sunday frame, Dergarabedian said.
Even if Indiana Jones drops 50 per cent in its second weekend - a typical decline for many big Hollywood action movies - the bullwhip-cracking archaeologist is likely to easily eclipse the four Cosmo-swilling girls from the city.
