"New Moon" snaps "Dark Knight" box-office record with $72.7 million opening day

EW ^ | 20 NOVEMBER 2009 | ADAM VARY

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

The Twilight Saga: New Moon grossed $72.7 million on Friday, according to estimates from Summit Entertainment, shattering The Dark Knight’s previous opening-day record of $62.2 million. (The figure includes the $26.3 million New Moon banked from midnight screenings, also a box office record.) The astronomic figure puts Bella, Edward, and Jacob on a clear path to the biggest opening weekend ever, all the more impressive considering New Moon is opening in 342 fewer theaters than The Dark Knight did last year.

[LongElegantLegs]

My favorite Twilight-related quote: “Real vampires don't sparkle; they explode into dust.”

[bcsco]

What’s this about? This link doesn’t give any background, and all the responses seem to be from impressionable youngsters...

[fieldmarshaldj]

New Moon ? What say you, Eric Cartman ?

[thefactor]

why anyone would make a movie not aimed at young teens is beyond me. it’s like printing money.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

The Twilight Saga: New Moon grossed $72.7 million on Friday, according to estimates from Summit Entertainment, shattering The Dark Knight’s previous opening-day record of $62.2 million.

As teenage boys and men increasingly move off into the gaming world, it's clear that Hollywood's biggest customer base is teenage girls and young women. Look for a lot more female fantasy movies involving vampires, werewolves, unicorns and other mythical creatures along with vapid pretty-boys for girls to swoon over LOL.

[rbosque]

Better to give to the poor than to make Hollywood liberals richer.

[RabidBartender]

That’s the about the depth of Entertainment Weekly and its readers.

[DannyTN]

I can confirm this.

Went to the movies last night and we were definitely in the “Twilight Zone”. Never saw the theater so crowded or the parking lot so packed.

[bcsco]

So that’s what it contains. Huh. I have a distant cousin/friend on Facebook, who wrote she took her daughter and thought it was “AWESOME”. Oh, well.

[Aaron0617]

Don't know much about this series, quick question I've wanted to know from watching the previews. Why are vampires and werewolves walking around in broad daylight?

[Fabozz]

"What’s this about?"

It's about two hours too long.

[bcsco]

It's about two hours too long.

HA!

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

BTTT

[BudgieRamone]

Stephanie Meyer has created her own mythos regarding vampires. One is that they can wander about in daylight but it is very obvious something is different about them (they sparkle)

The books are OK from what I have listened to (wife reads them as audio) kind of gothic horror meets trashy romance meets teen appropriate reading...

[Caesar Soze]

Twilight, like its spiritual forebear Titanic, has hit the sweet spot: It appeals to unsophisticated tween girls, young women wishing they were unsophisticated tween girls, and hausfraus advancing into middle age.

Who can tell why it is so popular? The standard reading is that the protagonist, Bella, is a tabula rasa onto which the reader can project herself. The vampire is typically the avatar of a rape fantasy, although in this case it's a very chaste, sparkly rape fantasy. There is a minority interpretation, however, in which Bella is a passive-aggressive emotional manipulator and Edward is her victim. That makes it kind of an empowerment/femdom fantasy. With sparkles.

I have no idea how to interpret Edward chewing their baby out of Bella's uterus, or the werewolf Jacob instantly falling in love with the infant and declaring his intention to marry her. Body horror and medieval customs of royal betrothal as actual love matches? Spoilers in this paragraph, btw.

[Ransomed]

“I have no idea how to interpret Edward chewing their baby out of Bella’s uterus, or the werewolf Jacob instantly falling in love with the infant and declaring his intention to marry her.”

Tell me you’re joking.

Freegards

[thefactor]

yeah thanks for the spoiler alert after i read it.

[Erasmus]

Since Coppertone came out with SPF 10,000.

[netmilsmom]

I’m so glad we’re into Harry Potter instead.