Vampire (and technically, werewolf) Weekend

I'm back! After weeks in China, I'm finally back in lovely LA. I really missed it and it looks like I've missed out on alot. Must catch up. China redux post coming soon.



If you couldn't tell already, this post is all about New Moon, because whether you love it or hate it, this is its weekend. The movie and predictions about its numbers have been getting alot of buzz, and I can't help but join in. After a clusterfuck of interviews and press tours all around the world (U.K., Japan, Germany, Latin America) and domestically (L.A., NY, Today show, Ellen, Jimmy Fallon, Conan, Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel, Regis+Kelly, etc., etc.), along with endless TV spots, the New Moon marketing machine has finally come to an end (somewhat), and Summit can now sit back and let the money roll in. And when I say roll, I actually mean pour.

The preliminary numbers for New Moon are insane. And I mean insane. After showing in 3,514 theaters, New Moon has produced the biggest midnight opening ever with Summit reporting $26.27 million. That's bigger than The Dark Knight and all of the Harry Potter movies. New Moon has also broken the record for the largest number of advance tickets sold as Fandango is reporting 10+ tickets/second. That's just ridiculous.

It gets bigger though. Friday has opened up to just about $72.7 million, which breaks both records of the biggest single day and biggest Friday opening. The previous record belonged to The Dark Knight, which opened to $67 mil on its first day. Batman & Robin have been beaten out by Stephenie Meyer and her vamps, werewolves, and damsel in distress, Bella Swan. I have no words for this, and I can't imagine how incredibly happy the bigwigs at Summit are and how incredibly mad the people at MTV are (they originally had the rights to adapt the Twilight saga).

I'm really interested in how the weekend numbers will do, especially since alot of people are predicting some phenom numbers, as in 100+ mil. I wasn't sure it would get there, but the marketing machine and the massive amount of diehard fans have paid off. There's now no doubt that New Moon will break the $100 mil mark, and potentially open up to $130 million. I can't imagine how Eclipse will do (the third installment of the Twilight saga, which has already been shot, this time by director David Slade - 30 Days of Night, and opens June 2010).

ETA: Weekend numbers are in. $142.8 million. This makes The Twilight Saga: New Moon the third largest weekend opening ever, right behind The Dark Knight and Spider-Man 3. That's pretty damn impressive, especially since this movie opened in the fall, not in the summer, the time of year when blockbusters usually come out. Just goes to show that you should never underestimate the power of teenage girls and vampires.

Just got back from watching the movie. There were times that were unintentionally funny and times that were just painful to watch because of the awkwardness. However, I thought the soundtrack was amazing and it was mixed in very well. I thought Chris Weitz did a great job directing, and that blue tint from the first installment is gone. That's not a knock to Catherine Hardwicke though because I think she's a great director, but Twilight was just too blue, literally. Lots of shirts off too in this one, which is never a bad thing. Not. at. all. Before watching the movie, I was observing the many fan girls who were going crazy over watching a movie. It made me think of my younger days and I felt a little twinge of sadness. When's the last time I felt so strongly about something that I became obsessed with it? (Because these girls were obsessed.) A long time. I guess I'm a little too jaded now to remember what it really felt like to really feel something with that much passion, which is sad, so sad. Yes, those girls seemed a little crazy and yes they are over the top, but hey, I can understand it and in some ways, I envy them.

In some other unrelated, but big news, Oprah will end her syndicated talk show in Sept. 2011, which will mark her 25th season. The big reason behind this move is so that she can kickstart her own network, appropriately titled OWN (oprah winfrey network) and presumably move her show there. Check out the video below of 25 years of the big O belting out celebrity names in the only way she knows how. It's pretty amazing.



So. Who's going to see New Moon and who's going to miss the big O?