Though reviews are mixed, moviegoers surveyed on opening weekend gave it high scores.
"Sex and the City" also got off to a robust start overseas, hauling in an estimated $39.2 million from 13 territories, including Britain, France and Germany, and ranking No. 1 or No. 2 in each.
Diane Keith, 47, a jewelry saleswoman in Edmond, Okla., said she and her husband and another couple tried early in the week to get advance tickets at a new Oklahoma City theater that serves alcohol, in order to toast the film in style on opening night with cosmopolitans. Because of advance sell-outs, they had to see it at another venue.
"The movie deals with the kind of issues that come up in people's lives," Keith said, pointing to one character's unexpected pregnancy and paralyzing fears, and another's obsession with work to the detriment of her marriage.
Fantasy elements, such as Carrie's fetish for $525 designer shoes, are also alluring, Keith said.
"When we came out of the theater I told my friend that I want to go to New York just to go shopping. That's on my list."
Warner Bros. had originally passed on making "Sex and the City." The studio recently inherited the picture when smaller corporate sibling New Line Cinema was folded into Warner by parent Time Warner Inc.
Now, Fellman said, New Line and Warner "certainly hope" to get a sequel quickly into the works.
"The Strangers" proved to be successful counter-programming, with ticket sales twice as high as expected.
The R-rated film, starring Liv Tyler, benefited from being the only significant horror movie in the market, said Nikki Rocco, Universal's president of domestic distribution.
"The Strangers," produced for $9 million, drew audiences that were evenly split between males and females and were more than 60% under 25.
Industrywide, box-office revenue jumped about 30% from the same weekend in 2007, giving Hollywood a boost during an up-and-down early summer season.
"Iron Man" and "Indiana Jones" are the first two films of the year to top $200 million at the domestic box office, but "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" has under-performed lofty expectations and the costly "Speed Racer" is an outright flop.
"Sex and the City" will face competition from two high-profile comedies starting Friday, when the new releases include "Kung Fu Panda," from DreamWorks Animation SKG and distributor Paramount, and Adam Sandler's "You Don't Mess With the Zohan," from Sony Pictures.
