Celebrity Movie

LOS ANGELES — Sarah Jessica Parker wants more Sex.

The 45-year-old actress is up for continuing the hit franchise, despite a weak box office debut over the Memorial Day weekend for Sex and the City 2.

"I hope Carrie will live on," Parker told Us Weekly at the sequel's Japan premiere on Tuesday. "She will live on — even if the movies don't."

Sex and the City 2 had a dismal $37.1 million opening after getting a jump start on the competition with a Thursday release. Shrek Forever After won the box office for the second straight weekend with $55.7 million in sales, followed by Jake Gyllenhaal's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time at $37.8 million.

Also see: Sex and the City 2 New York Premiere Red Carpet Pictures

LOS ANGELES — The fun, the fashion, the friendship: Sex and the City 2 brings it all back and more as Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Samantha (Kim Cattrall), Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) take another bite out of The Big Apple—and beyond—carrying on with their busy lives and loves in a sequel that truly sparkles.

What happens after you say "I do"? Life is everything the ladies ever wished it to be, but it wouldn't be Sex and the City if life didn't hold a few more surprises...this time in the form of a glamorous, sun-drenched adventure that whisks the women away from New York to one of the most luxurious, exotic and vivid places on earth, where the party never ends and there's something mysterious around every corner. It's an escape that comes exactly at the right moment for the four friends, who are finding themselves in—and fighting against—the traditional roles of marriage, motherhood and more.

Twelve years, six seasons and one hugely successful feature film. Since its inception, Sex and the City has grown into an international phenomenon, with audiences around the world feeling so close to Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda that they practically consider them more like personal friends than fictional characters.

"When the first movie opened," recalls writer/producer/director Michael Patrick King, "I would see lines of women at the theaters all dressed up as if they were going to a party, not just a movie. It felt to me like they were excited to celebrate this special time with their girlfriends—both the ones in the seats and on the screen. So when I thought about the sequel, I knew I wanted it to be the continuation of the party. I wanted the movie to be the party."

Sarah Jessica Parker, who not only reprises her role as Carrie Bradshaw but is once again a producer on the film, says, "It's very moving and truly thrilling to be part of something that people have connected with and have strong feelings about, something that they've welcomed into their homes every week and then gone to the theatre to watch. So we gave a lot of thought as to how we'd take them into the next phase, two years down the road."

Despite the resolution of the first film's major plotlines, there remains plenty to say about these four women and the loves in their lives. Producer John Melfi offers, "It's exciting to go to the next chapter, to see what happens next."

As King began to reflect on how far the characters have come, and to explore where they might be after we last saw them two years ago, a theme began to emerge: tradition.

Though he didn't want Sex and the City 2 to be a conventional comedy, the various forms and facets of tradition played right into King's hands, and he turned the genre on its ear. "These four women are not traditional and never have been. Miranda had a baby out of wedlock, then got married late, and she's the alpha spouse. Charlotte converted to Judaism, adopted an Asian daughter and had another daughter. Samantha has tried relationships and decided she's always going to be single. And Carrie is somebody who has tried everything she can to make her relationship work with Big and still be a self-employed writer."

In fact, Parker notes, "Carrie, who at one point thought she might not be the marrying type, is finally married to the love of her life, the man she spent most of her adult life pursuing." She further adds that Carrie is not alone in reaching a crossroads in her life. "All the women, at this point in their lives, appear to be content with having what they thought they wanted. But, as Michael Patrick so cleverly does in his writing, there's nuance and layers and complications under the surface."

"At the start of this movie, each of these four characters has found herself beginning to feel boxed in by one of those 'female' roles," King says. "Carrie Bradshaw, the eternal single girl, now finds herself struggling with the title of wife. How does the title of 'Mrs.' affect a woman whose identity, not to mention career path as a writer, has been tied to the idea of being single? Miranda, a partner at a prestigious New York Law firm, has discovered that despite all her years to prove otherwise, there can be a glass ceiling for women who work. Charlotte, who always dreamed of being the perfect mother to a loving family, now has the loving family and is discovering just how far out of her reach being the 'perfect' mother really is. The outrageous and outspoken Samantha takes on the taboo of menopause and aging by fighting the idea that when a woman goes through the 'change,' she should have to change."

Still playing with their theme, the filmmakers found a way to amp up the level of fantasy in this film by taking the four friends on a vacation to one of today's most exotic, sought-after locations in the world, a place at once completely modern and entirely traditional, the United Arab Emirates.

Melfi notes, "In this movie, our characters get to experience a lifestyle that most of us could only dream about. But that's what movies have always done--allow us to escape for a couple of hours and live vicariously through beautiful people in a glamorous world where we might otherwise never have an opportunity to go."

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Sex and the City 2 Premiere Red Carpet Pictures