'Mr. Big': 'Sex and the City' is dead

NEW YORK, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- Actor Chris Noth, "Mr. Big" in the "Sex and the City" TV show and movies, says critics for New York magazine and other outlets "killed" the franchise.

Sex and the City 2 was roundly panned when it opened during the summer. While it made a respectable $95 million at the box office, that was considerably less than the $152 million the first movie brought in, The Daily Telegraph reports.

Noth confronted a New York magazine writer at the premier of Philip Seymour Hoffman's "Jack Goes Boating," saying: "The franchise is dead. The press killed it."

"Your magazine f------ killed it -- New York magazine," he added. "It's like all the critics got together and said, 'this franchise must die.' Because they all had the exact same review. It's like they didn't see the movie."

Noth then asked the reporter for some gum.

The 56-year-old Noth was best known for playing a police detective on "Law and Order" before he became Carrie Bradshaw's flame and then husband. More recently, he has appeared on CBS's "The Good Wife" as a disgraced district attorney inspired by former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer.