Forget Sex and the City. Where's the Sopranos Movie?

Better late than never. Nearly a decade after the first episode aired, HBO is finally gearing up for a fall start date for their long-anticipated Sex and the City movie, with New Line closing in on a deal to finance and distribute (keeping it all in the Time Warner family).

Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon are all set to reprise their roles (an accomplishment in itself) with longtime exec producer Michael Patrick King directing a script he wrote, according to Variety. King will produce with Parker, John Melfi, Darren Star (who created the series, based on Candance Bushnell's columns).

For those who remember, this film came close to happening two years ago, but Cattral back away over issues of script control and salary (Parker was paid more because she produced as well). But the ladies all seem on the same page now (for Cattral, that may have something to do with her fat pay check, imput over her scenes, and her future series she's cooking up with HBO. Good for her. I loved her work in both Porky's and Police Academy).

But I can't say I care much if this series makes the big-screen or not (I don't think I'm part of the target aud). However, it does give me hope that they could get the deals together for a Sopranos prequel. Speaking of HBO and movies, I've given up on the two, two-hour Deadwood movies that David Milch had been planning, which is sad, because I had heard the concept for one of the scripts and it was fantastic (it had a very smart and timely big business/environment angle, if you can believe that). While promoting Live Free or Die Hard, Timothy Olyphant has hardly been sanguine about the projects, telling the LA Times: "I've always had a 'don't hold your breath' feeling about it. I think the healthiest perspective for me, and perhaps for the people who enjoyed it, is God bless HBO for letting it exist for as long as it did.... It was really the greatest experience I ever had."

But it does make you think about the shows that HBO has now. Could you imagine an Entourage movie? It just wouldn't sustain. I feel like that show is continuing its sitcom devolution in its fourth season, and as a fan since the start (who recently wrote a book about the series), that's disappointing (Hey Doug Ellin, you're really going to devote an entire B-story to getting a rim job from an older woman? Classy stuff, man.) I'm hoping the Medellin plot picks up. If you disagree, feel free to leave a comment and let me know.

[Photo: SEX AND THE CITY, Cynthia Nixon, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis, Kim Cattrall: Everett Collection]