By MICHAEL CIEPLY

LOS ANGELES - In Nora Ephron’s “Sleepless in Seattle a weepy Rosie O’Donnell, watching “An Affair to Remember’’ with a sniffling Meg Ryan 15 years ago, said, “Men never get this movie.
The notion of the “chick flick thus came into its own, referring to films that appeal to women. And Hollywood has been fretting about it ever since, trying to recapture that success yet chafing at a label that is increasingly viewed as a marketplace trap. In New York and other locations, two of the most successful directors of the form - Ms. Ephron and P. J. Hogan - are currently shooting what might pass for a couple of next-generation chick flicks. But those involved seem determined to avoid having that classification hung on their films, even if it is rooted in honest observation.
Mr. Hogan, who directed the 1997 hit “My Best Friend’s Wedding, starring Julia Roberts, is filming “Confessions of a Shopaholic, with Isla Fisher in the lead role, for Touchstone Pictures. The film is based on a literary series that began with the British publication of Sophie Kinsella’s novel with that title in 2000, about a financial journalist with relationship problems and a penchant for overspending.
But the movie is not just for women, the filmmakers insist. “We all have spending habits, a lot of us do, said Jerry Bruckheimer, one of the film’s producers .
“If we do our job right, this could be another ‘Wedding Crashers,’ added Mr. Bruckheimer, known for movies popular with men like “Bad Boys and the “Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. He was referring to the 2005 comic hit that included Ms. Fisher, but actually starred Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson as a couple of playboys who go to weddings uninvited for easy sex .
Ms. Ephron, for her part, is shooting “Julie & Julia, with Amy Adams and Meryl Streep, for Columbia Pictures. In a complex exercise, it is based on both the life of the cooking enthusiast Julia Child and the 2005 book of the same title by Julie Powell, who, stuck in place as an office temp as she approached 30, spent a year whipping up every recipe in Ms. Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.
But that could be a guy thing, right- “We hope this will be a movie for everyone who likes eating, said Laurence Mark (“Dreamgirls, “Working Girl), one of the film’s producers. In fact, both films are rooted in a phenomenon - widely styled “chick lit - that has swept the publishing world in the last decade. The books are written for, and mostly by, professional women in their 20s. The covers are often bright and fluffy, with amusing illustrations. And narrative is often rooted in the first person singular.
“The Devil Wears Prada, Lauren Weisberger’s 2003 novel about the travails of a young woman in the tough New York fashion magazine industry, spawned the genre’s biggest movie hit, for 20th Century Fox, in 2006. The film, which was directed by David Frankel and starred Ms. Streep and Anne Hathaway, took in about $125 million at the American box office, and more than $200 million abroad.
“Bridget Jones’s Diary, based on Helen Fielding’s novel about a British woman, made about $72 million at the American box office for Miramax Films in 2001.
Trying to figure out what exactly, constitutes a supposed chick flick is difficult. “An Affair to Remember, in which Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr played starcrossed lovers, clearly makes the list . “Knocked Up, in which Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogen played a star-crossed couple of another sort, probably does not.
“The next generation hasn’t announced itself, really, said Joan Hyler, a talent manager whose clients include Diane Lane, a veteran of romantic fare. Ms. Hyler referred to a young female audience that has yet to find its signature movie. Ms. Lane’s next film, “Nights in Rodanthe, is based on a Nicholas Sparks novel about a woman who looks for relief from a shattered marriage on the North Carolina coast and falls into the arms of a doctor, played by Richard Gere. It’s almost certainly a chick flick, if Hollywood still permitted the term.
But even a filmmaker like Ms. Ephron - who helped define contemporary romance with “You’ve Got Mail and “When Harry Met Sally - has become wary of a label that might imply that a picture is not quite for everyone.
As Mr. Bruckheimer noted of “Shopaholic, we all have issues.
“How do you cope with money and love- asked Mr. Bruckheimer, whose credits include the 1983 hit “Flashdance, about a woman with a passion for welding, exotic dancing and ballet. He added, “That’s something everyone can understand.