TWILIGHT Wins Big at the Box Office
“Twilight” raked in huge numbers during its opening weekend in the U.S. and practically sucked the blood out of its competition.
The hugely popular vampire romance based on the best-selling novel series of Stephanie Meyer took in $70.6 million at its box-office debut this weekend, beating out the James Bond flick “Quantum of Solace” which scored $27.4 million and the Disney-animated “Bolt,” which took in $27 million. “Twilight” set the record for the biggest opening ever for a female director, and credit goes to Catherine Hardwicke, whose past movies include “Lords of Dogtown” and “Thirteen”.
Probably the most anticipated film of the year, “Twilight” was surrounded by massive media hype months before its release. The story of forbidden love between 17-year old Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) was an instant hit not only among its teenage fanbase, but also among adults as well. The “Twilight” novel, along with the other books in the series, already made approximately 17 million in global sales. The series became a huge teenage phenomenon and the movie made instant stars out of Stewart and Cullen, previously known for his role as Cedric Diggory in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.”
The film's soundtrack, which includes tracks from Linkin Park, Muse and Paramore, hit the top stop at the Billboard sales charts weeks before the movie was even released, and sold 164,700 copies on its first week.
Summit Entertainment has already announced that it will go ahead with the production of “New Moon,” the second book in the series. Stewart and Pattinson will reprise their roles as Bella and Edward, and negotiations are still on for Hardwicke to direct the movie sequel.
Hopefully the DVD will be out soon.
