CINDY, INCIDENTALLY:

Months back, I went to the movies during the opening weekend of a Hannah Montana movie and it was tween mayhem. Crowds of squirmy young girls waited in line with a box of Goobers in one hand and a picture of Miley Ray Cyrus in the other; all of them nearly bursting with puppy-like anticipation.

I couldn’t remember the last time I had felt excited about something abstract, so much so, that I was willing to wait in line for hours.

Then came the release of the “Sex and the City” movie.

In early May, I got my first evite from a friend organizing a night of drinking candy-colored martinis and then heading out to watch the movie together.

While a part of me thought this was bordering on fanatic, the tween girl that forever lives inside me loved it.

Henry Medved, spokesman for fandango.com, told me the day before the movie was released that “Sex and the City” was the first female-driven movie that had ever reached the kind of fan anticipation usually saved for movies like “Iron Man,” “Star Wars” or “Indiana Jones.”

“For a female-driven picture, the advance sales for this movie was nothing short of phenomenal,” Medved said. “We got a lot of calls from women who were organizing girls night out, and they were scooping up tickets.”

The night before the movie release, the Cineplex at Bella Terra was busy with throngs of women, from twosomes to groups, buying tickets for the 12:10 a.m. showing.

There were a surprising number of guys also in line with their girlfriends, claiming they were there because it is a “really well-written” show and their girlfriends had not forced them to come with them. Riiiggghht.

But the majority of the crowd was girlfriends.

Some came dressed up wearing heels, dresses and adequately accessorized. Others, like Ryanne, a 20-something from Huntington Beach, rushed to the theater just moments after getting home from the airport, so she could meet her friends in time for the movie.

The show is a pop culture exception that women (and some men) have clicked with, because of its frank and sexy portrayal of the ups and downs of dating.

Granted, not many of us get to wear $400 shoes or have the enviable night life these women have, but everyone has a Mr. Big (the guy who broke your heart) and everyone has an Aidan (the guy who loves you, but you’re stuck on the guy who broke your heart). And if you’re lucky, you’ve got a group of girlfriends who will take you dancing when you feel like your heart is breaking in two.

Which is why standing in line at midnight with your best girlfriends and a box of chocolate ... well, that’s a celebration a Mr. Big or an Aidan would never get.