SATC Parties Promise Faux Paparazzi, Flirtinis, And Other Pink Stuff

Instead of speculating on the numerous indignities and heartbreaks the captive audience of SATC2 might endure (starting tonight!), let’s instead discuss the upside: girls’ night out! That is, if you consider a $70 ticket an upside.

The film’s release isn’t just an opportunity for the marketing clothes and vodka; it’s also an opportunity for party planners and theater owners to cash in. As reported on Morning Edition, the real cash cow isn’t just ticket sales — for THIRD PARTIES, it’s selling tickets to pricey party packages, which ladies are snapping up in groups of 4 or 6 (or more, if you’re taking your whole pledge class) bundles. At the Arclight in Los Angeles, which is pricey enough for a basic ticket, $70 gets you a 90-minute pre-party with speciality cocktails (the Shoes-n-Tonic or something?) and apps, plus a ticket to the actual film. Or for $79, a Pasadena theater will serve you flirtinis and chinois chicken salad rolls. Ugh. For that kind of money, I’d expect at least to have that served as a low-carb lettuce wrap.

But your average party package — most of which are either sold out, or close to that point — pales in comparison to what a you can get in Santa Monica for a mere $65: a private party and screening, of course, plus apps and cocktails, plus manicures and massages, plus plus “faux paparazzi so you can walk the pink carpet.” Live the dream you could never really have!

The price of this nonsense aside…why is this stuff considered a valid girls’ night? One party planner interviewed noted that in a world where so much our social contact involves text messages and instant message and email, the movie’s opening — and its associated events — provides an occasion for women to have real face time with their friends. And sure, maybe this will inspire groups of friends to get together, file into the theater in chatty groups, and maybe grab a drink afterwards. But the two-and-a-half hours of sitting in the dark that will function as the centerpiece of the night — that’s not so much as quality face time as it is rapt-silence time. Which is worth a lot less than $70.