(She wants to be a stupid lamb.)
According to Nikki Finke, Twilight Saga: New Moon’s opening-day numbers are bigger than Dark Knight and Harry Potter. To put it in layman’s terms, that’s pretty big.
Rival studios are telling me this morning that Summit Entertainment’s New Moon debuted with $23M-$24M in 12:01AM screenings. That would set a new midnight opening record, smashing The Dark Knight’s $18.4M set on July 18, 2008, and Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince’s $22.2M set on July 15, 2009. Summit has yet to release an official number for the Twilight sequel’s midnight debut in 3,514 theaters.
The Dark Knight eventually went on to gross $1,001,921,825 (that’s a little more than a billion dollars if you hate commas) and Harry Potter earned $929,226,389. For New Moon to put up these kind of opening-night numbers is huge, and you know these are the type of fans who’ll show up more than once. It’s not like they’re busy going out on dates. It just goes to show the buying power of tween girls. Let’s hope they never develop the attendant upper-body strength.
Thanks to the magic of the internet, we have this screen shot from a Robert Pattinson fan site and the ads Google chose to accompany it, which all deal with sex offenders. Cute. But, logically, would sex offenders really be looking for other sex offenders? I don’t think they party like that. …From what I’ve heard. In fact, as far as target audience goes, I think cat products would’ve been a better sell. Oh, and as for the site name, “spunk-ransom“, that apparently came from an interview in which Robert Pattinson said he hated his name, and if he could choose a new one, it’d be “Spunk Ransom.” Uh, does that mean the same thing in British? Because in American that means holding another man’s jizz. Or the price you’d pay for a another man’s jizz. Not that there’s, uh, anything wrong with that. Read the rest of this entry »
(That guy supports Team Jacob. That’s Taylor Lautner’s father, right? Please tell me it is.)
Videogum has a whole gallery of pictures from the Twilight: New Moon premiere, so you can just go there if you want to see them all. I’m only picking a few of my favorites, but clearly this represented a cross section of America’s finest. Like this guy. He likes America, sleeveless shirts, and vampires that sparkle. I think that was a Bob Seger song. Or this girl, the one behind the girl in the front. She wants to be “a stupid lamb.” Or possibly a stupid lamp, it isn’t entirely clear. Regardless, it’s good to have ambitions. Then there’s these girls, who support the Cullen diet, while standing behind a lady who doesn’t seem to support any diets. Diversity is beautiful. Meanwhile, the girl in the front right is enjoying her one day of the month outside. Anyway, I just thought you guys should enjoy some of these photos, because a lot of good cats went hungry for this.
(”Aw, but he does, honey. You just have to hold the turkey baster up to the sunlight.”)
Remember how Forks, Washington became a tourist attraction because Twilight was set there? Well now the same thing is happening to Volterra, Italy, a setting of New Moon. The Volturi scenes in the movie were actually shot in Montepulciano, but these are fans of an abstinent, vegetarian vampire we’re talking here.
On a college break, American teenager Kiersten Kunke and her friend, Canadian Stephanie Regier, plot their version of an Italian Grand Tour. On their must-see list: Florence, Venice, Rome — and Volterra?
This small Tuscan city with an ancient Etruscan history has become a cult destination among traveling teenagers and people in their 20s (not to mention some vampire-loving mothers), thanks to Twilight.
Kunke, 19, found Volterra on a map as soon as she read New Moon. “I was like, I have to go there,” says the native of Portland, Ore. “It was just one of those things I had to do.” [Like the freshman 15. -Ed.]
The only English speakers in a group of Italian Twilight fans, Kunke and Regier giggle and snap photos in Volterra’s narrow alleys, trying to scare each other. “Omigod, is that a bat?” Kunke says.
Riolo leads the tour into a dark building, where they walk down a clammy staircase. Waiting at the bottom: two cloaked men and a small woman, all deathly pale. “The Volturi!” Regier gasps.
The vampires walk silently among the tourists, pulling “victims” up on a stone table. The girls huddle closer together. “This is creepy,” Kunke whispers — before a vampire grabs Regier. As he attempts to bite her, she dissolves into laughter.
After the tableau, the tour-goers relive their New Moon moments over drinks. Turns out that the actors who played the Volturi are members of Compagnia della Fortezza — a theater troupe of convicts named after Volterra’s Medici-era fortress-turned-prison. [USAToday]
Man, how awesome would it be if one of these chicks obsessed with chaste, sparkling white, pussy-whipped vampires ended up getting raped by a real-life Italian convict? Aw crap, did I just wish rape on someone? I promised my shrink I’d try to do that less this week.
[picture source: Buzzfeed]
Check out Hot Topic’s brand new Twilight: New Moon collection. Back when I used to hang out at the mall, Hot Topic was the store for goth kids, which is why it seems weird that they’d be selling Twilight clothes now, because from what I remember, goths weren’t into abstinence. In practice, certainly, but as a theoretical concept, no. I also find it strange that abstinence vampires and ethnic temptation wolves get the same t-shirt treatment as fake wrestling guys. GRRR, MEANINGFUL GLANCE FROM THE TOP ROPE!*
They also have chunky charm bracelets, perfect for the fat-wristed. Er, husky-limbed. Anyway, toss one in the rascal on the way down to the food court there, lardy. Meanwhile, this fetching Edward Cullen hoody comes in dazzling, Salt Lake City Caucasian, and goes perfectly with this necklace you can put your coke in. And finally, don’t forget your “authentic prop replica jewelry” which contains no gold, but is truly the gold standard in oxymoronicness.
