Can Kit Kittredge be 'Sex'-y?

By Katey Rich

This New York Times article hits on something that I pointed out in my review of Kit Kittredge: An American Girl for the upcoming issue of Film Journal. What Sex and the City was for women, Kit Kittredge could be for girls-- and according to the article, Picturehouse is hoping it will mean the same thing in box-office receipts too.

Kit, which comes out in limited release on June 20, is based on the hugely successful American Girl line of dolls-- well, "characters" if you use the terminology preferred by the article. Each character in the series is a nine-year-old girl living in a different period in history-- Addy is an escaped slave in Philadelphia, Kirsten is a Swedish immigrant in Minnesota, Kit is growing up in Cincinnati in the Great Depression, etc. The characters have six books about their lives, and the dolls come with a huge collection of outfits, pets and even bedroom sets.

I was a huge fan of the American Girl dolls as a girl, though Kit debuted after I had outgrown them. But the American Girl franchise is bigger than ever, with stores located in several cities, a handful of TV movies and now, its first feature release. Just as HBO and New Line repeatedly targeted Sex and the City fans in the weeks before the film's release, the American Girl company is priming Kit's devotees to spend some time with their familiar friend on the big screen. The Times article mentions opening-night viewing parties in the works, and promotion for the film in the company's catalog. The website definitely has the message down.

Kit cost only $10 million to make, so it won't take much for the movie to be a hit. The last movie Breslin toplined, Nim's Island, wasn't considered much upon its release, but has made a healthy $46 million during its run and continues playing now. That movie was based on a book far less popular than the American Girl series, and the power of the built-in audience for Kit will be huge, at least on the first weekend.

Will Kit Kittredge be able to hit #1 on its opening weekend, like Sex and the City did? Absolutely not. Little girls can't exactly organize their girlfriends for viewing parties the way their moms and older cousins did for Carrie and company. But if Kit is any kind of success, even with its old-fashioned values and lessons about history, it could be a huge leap forward in Hollywood's understanding of how to entertain young girls.