| EVENT REPORT 02.03.09 3:56 PM |
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He's Just Not That Into You Premiere Party Plays Up Relationship Issues
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FROM LOS ANGELES
With Valentine's Day on the horizon, relationship issues are weighing heavily on a lot of minds. And if the topic didn't already loom large, then it certainly did for about 1,200 guests after they sat through a screening of Warner Brothers' New Line release He's Just Not That Into You at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, a picture whose plot lines are all wrapped up in questions of love and romance.
So, after the screening, about 700 of the guests got back in their cars for the short drive to Social Hollywood, where the premiere party's theme—appropriately—was relationship issues. A photo booth invited couples and friends to snap their mugs, and tarot card readers and palm readers spoke to guests about their mates' intentions.
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New Line Cinema, Warner Brothers, He's Just Not That Into You, Crest |
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| NEWS 05.29.08 5:35 PM |
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Sex and the City Screening Snafu Prompts Blame Game
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 | The line of wet fans outside Radio City
Photo: Jessica Torossian for BizBash |
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Hell hath no fury like a Sex and the City fan scorned, and neither New Line Cinema nor Radio City Music Hall want to accept the blame for the blunder at Tuesday’s premiere that left thousands of the film’s ticket-holding disciples standing out in the rain.
One “insider” came to Radio City’s defense today, telling The New York Post, "the movie studio gave out way more promotional tickets than could fit in the orchestra. … Radio City managers told the New Line people, 'You can solve this by opening up the mezzanines, which have 2,700 more seats’—but they wouldn't do it."
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Sex and the City, New Line Cinema |
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| EVENT REPORT 05.29.08 3:34 PM |
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Canadian Sex and the City Premiere Party Re-Creates New York Street Scene
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 | The Sex and the City after-party
Photo: BizBash |
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FROM TORONTO
New York City—often referred to as the fifth leading lady in Sex and the City—played a starring role in the after-party for the film’s Canadian premiere at the Toronto School of Circus Arts last night. The Big Apple featured prominently in the party for 650 guests with images of the Manhattan skyline projected onto the bare concrete walls, a yellow cab parked in the middle of the venue, and an ice sculpture of the Empire State Building in the centre of the main martini bar.
“The whole premise of the event is black and pink, and the whole underlying theme is obviously New York,” said Suzanne Turnbull of McNabb Roick Events, who, along with Jeffry Roick, collaborated with Carrie Wolfe of Alliance Films (the movie's Canadian distributor) to create what Turnbull called a "glamourous party in a New York street.”
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Sex and the City, New Line Cinema, HBO, Swarovski, Mercedes-Benz, NYC & Company, Shoppers Drug Mart, Stella Artois, Skyy Vodka |
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| EVENT REPORT 05.28.08 4:38 PM |
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Beset With Rain, Crowds, and Sponsors, Sex and the City Premiere Still Sparkles
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Presenting his movie to a rowdy audience of 2,800 guests inside Radio City Music Hall last night, Sex and the City writer and director Michael Patrick King said, “Sex is back where it belongs—in New York City.” (Cue the screaming and applause.) And one didn’t have to search long for evidence that New York was ready for the HBO show's characters to return. Outside, on the hall’s rain-drenched cross streets, thousands of mostly female fans waited, barging into barricades, cursing cops, and screeching for the droves of celebrity attendees.
The pre-event hype seemed to have a mushroom effect (The Post reported that one woman lost $22,000 in a ticket scam), with thousands coming out for the premiere, including many a crasher donning ode-to-Carrie ensembles. Expecting a huge turnout, studio New Line booked a backup theater in advance for overflow guests (The Daily News said others jilted got vouchers for weekend showings).
Clearly the return of Sex and the City was going to be a spectacle in its hometown. But even the premiere's planners and staffers seemed in awe of the crazed (some might say fanatical), bursting-at-the-seams atmosphere.
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Sex and the City, New Line Cinema, Mercedes-Benz, Vitaminwater, Swarovski |
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| NEWS 05.23.08 10:15 AM |
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A Brief History of Sex (As in Sex and the City Premiere Parties)
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 | Shoe cookies at Sex and the City's season five premiere
Photo: BizBash |
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For each season of Sex and the City, HBO threw an equally hyped premiere celebration to herald its arrival—with shoes, bright colors, and overflowing martini glasses in no short supply. So in anticipation of Tuesday's New York premiere for the show's film continuation—and the MoMA soirée to follow—we thought we'd take a look back at some of those parties thrown to promote the original series. We covered the fourth, fifth, and sixth season launches; here's a look back.
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Sex and the City, New Line Cinema, HBO, Manolo Blahnik |
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| Q & A 05.22.08 10:10 AM |
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Sex and the City Premiere Producer: Party Will Be "Saturated in Crystal"
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 | | Maria Ruiz |
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Sex and the City promises to be one of the biggest films of 2008, if only just for New York. As the continuation of a television series that came to define the way much of the world thinks of the city, the film demands a proper welcome. To see that happen, distributor New Line Cinema teamed up with Maria Ruiz, the founder and principle of MAR Events, to create a screening at Radio City Music Hall and a party at the Museum of Modern Art with a string of New York-centric touches for the May 27 premiere.
This is not Maria’s first time helming a New Line event. She’s worked with the studio as an event producer for the past nine years, planning premieres for films like Austin Powers, Hairspray, and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Maria also produced New Line Cinema’s 40th anniversary, where Nicole Kidman was the M.C. Because executing a premiere of this scope requires a lot of work, Maria moved into the New Line offices, as she does for all of their projects, to work hand-in-hand with the studio's staff in all aspects of the screening and party. We caught up with her last week to see what she was up to with such little time left before the big day.
The premiere is less than a week away. What are you working on right now?
I’m finalizing the specialty drink and putting the finishing touches on the menu selection. New York is the food capital of the world, as far as I see it, and we’re trying to have all our bases covered, whether it's New York street food or a combination of that and cutting-edge, high-end lounge food. There will be lots of passed plates and some stationary buffets. Most of the menu is done; we’re just trying to tweak a couple of things. The same goes for the recipe for the specialty cocktail. We’re in pretty good shape for most of the event details. We’re conceptualizing these trays for the food elements with some of the Swarovski pieces being flown in from Europe, so we’re coordinating the receipt of those.
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Sex and the City, New Line Cinema, Mercedes-Benz, Vitaminwater, Glacéau, Swarovski, Skyy Vodka |
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| NEWS 02.07.08 3:05 PM |
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Mercedes Uses Sex and the City to Boost Fashion Week Visibility
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 | The Mercedes-Benz displays in the tent lobby
Photo: Keith Sirchio for BizBash |
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Although the Sex and the City movie doesn't open until May 30, Mercedes-Benz has leveraged its relationship with the film's distributor, New Line Cinema, to provide even more visibility in the Fashion Week tents, with sneak previews of the film (and its outfits). As the title sponsor, the auto manufacturer gets plenty of publicity, but this strategic product placement targets fans of the HBO show by providing a more obvious link between Mercedes-Benz and fashion.
The most visible of Mercedes-Benz’s efforts are the two displays in the lobby of the tents. Sitting on either side of the main entrance are two cars—a new luxury SUV and a new sedan—both of which are featured in the movie. To make this connection clear, video screens surrounding the vehicles show clips from the film, including scenes where the four main characters attend Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.
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Mercedes-Benz, Fashion Week, Sex and the City, New Line Cinema |
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| EVENT REPORT 07.24.07 2:28 PM |
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Hairspray Premieres in Mid-Century Style
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Hollywood may be spending less on some movie premieres, but cautious spending was not in evidence at the July 16 celebration for Hairspray, the movie musical starring John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Queen Latifah. Planning began six months ago, and production was in the hands of the Los Angeles-based J. Ben Bourgeouis, who re-created the set of The Corny Collins Show, the movie's TV dance party. Actual hairspray cans were also prominently featured, both in the form of smoke-blowing 20-foot installations and in 2,000 Sebastian International pumps.
The party was held at Roseland Ballroom—the same venue that housed the opening-night party for the Broadway musical that inspired the movie (after the musical was adapted from a John Waters film). But Roseland won this party because of its proximity to the Zeigfield Theater; its stage, which was the perfect spot to re-create the Collins show; and its capacity to hold 1,200 people, said producer Maria Ruiz of MAR Events, who worked with New Line's Clare Anne Conlon to produce the event.
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Hairspray, New Line Cinema |
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