Frenzied ‘Twilight’ fans –tween, teen and older –eagerly await ‘New Moon,’ the second movie based on Stephenie Meyers’ best-selling vampire love saga
UNDER THE ‘TWILIGHT’SPELL
The new moon that will quietly arrive on Monday will be shrouded in darkness, invisible to those of us on Earth.
The “New Moon” arriving at midnight on Thursday, however, will be hard to miss. Officially called “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” it is the second film adaptation of author Stephenie Meyers’ best-selling quartet of books about the forbidden love between the human teen Bella Swan and vampire Edward Cullen. And, if it is greeted in theaters with the same unrestrained fervor as “Twilight,” expect it to be loud, expect there to be screams and standing ovations, and this time, expect tears.
In “Twilight,” awkward teenager Bella Swan moves to the perennially rainy town of Forks, Wash., to live with her dad, the local sheriff. At school, she meets the handsome, tormented vampire Edward Cullen and they quickly fall in love. Make that “unconditionally and irrevocably in love.”
While “Twilight” was about the joys of first love, “New Moon” is about the pain of breaking up. The ever-sacrificing Edward, fearful for Bella’s life around vampires, leaves her and Forks. But the separation begins to destroy them both. Bella’s best friend Jacob is there to help, but he also is in love with her, creating the inevitable love triangle. Edward, so tormented that he’s willing to die, brings on the wrath of the vampire royalty, the Volturi.
It gets tense, to say the least. And there are tears. Plenty. (Director Chris Weitz recently told People magazine that he would like his film “to be able to produce more tears than any movie before.”)
Pass it on
“Dec. 13, 2007,” states a beaming Erin Kotas, 14, of Lancaster. “That’s the day I read ‘Twilight.’ And I finished that day.”
On Dec. 14? She started what has become standard with Twilighters— she spread the gospel of the Cullens.
“We all thought she was crazy. The kids would say all she ever talked about was ‘Twilight,’ ” says Mary Rozler, the mother of Victoria, 13, and Veronica, 11, of Lancaster.
“But then they cracked,” Erin laughed, looking at her friend, Victoria. Both are wearing “Twilight” T-shirts and matching Cullen crest bracelets.
“My friends were talking about ‘Twilight’ all the time and I felt excluded,” Victoria says. “I read it – and then I was obsessed with it ...”
She is quickly cut off by her younger sister –“And it’s all I hear about now,” chimes in Veronica, who, despite not wanting to be a Twilighter, is proud to point out that the vest and white shirt she is wearing are similar to the outfit worn by the character of Alice Cullen in “Twilight” (the movie).
“Twilight” merchandise –the clothing, the books, the movie, the music –is big business. Really big. Meyers’ first book was published in 2005. The four novels—“Twilight,” “New Moon,” “Eclipse” and “Breaking Dawn” –have since sold nearly 80 million copies. During the first two quarters of 2009, they accounted for 16 percent of all the books sold in the United States. And it doesn’t stop there.
• “Twilight,” the first movie, racked up $380 million at the box office; its DVD sold 3 million copies on its first day of release. When advance tickets for “New Moon” went on sale in September, Fandango.com reported it accounted for 37 percent of all ticket sales.
• “Twilight” clothing, jewelry, accessories and other merchandise have been a mainstay at Hot Topic stores; more can be now be found in exclusive lines at Nordstrom and Kohl’s. Even the corner drug store now has candy, trading cards and games. One of the most anticipated toys of the upcoming holiday shopping season: “Twilight” Barbie dolls.
Overkill? Perhaps. But for a “Twilight” mom like Mary Rozler, there is a benefit. “Victoria is now really easy to shop for,” she laughs about her daughter.
What’s the fuss? Some would say it’s in the heartrending simplicity of the universal theme of love—even though it is told with a supernatural backdrop.
“It’s like ‘Pride & Prejudice,’ but in a vampire setting—wanting to love someone, but not knowing how to love them or if it is even possible,” says Jennifer Chadwick of Hamburg. “The chemistry between Edward and Bella is fantastic in the books. It is teen angst, but a love story for all ages to enjoy.”
Chadwick is part of what we can call Part 2 of the “Twilight” phenom –the adult fans. Chadwick, an attorney, wanted to see what all the buzz was about and asked for “Twilight” as a gift. She received a set of the four books –and finished them within a month. That’s about 2,500 pages. “The great thing about the books is they bring you back to when you were young and you can relate to the characters and how they act,” she says.
And Chadwick still marvels at what came next.
“I happened to mention to a woman at work that I started reading the books, only to discover that about half our female staff had already read them and would discuss them on a regular basis,” says Chadwick,
40. She also passed them along to her sister, a friend and two co-workers.
Rebecca Moskal, 21, of West Seneca, read “Twilight” after becoming intrigued by “all the talk about Edward Cullen on Facebook.”
“So I read the book. Then I read all the books within about two weeks,” says Moskal, who, of course, has passed along the book to family and friends, including her mom and an aunt.
After seeing “Twilight,” Kim Thie, 30, of Buffalo, borrowed the books from her sister on the condition that she could have only one to read a week. “It’s a good thing because I would have read them all in a week. I would read a book in about two days and would have to wait until Sunday to get the next one. For ‘Breaking Dawn,’ I paced it out and made it last five days because I didn’t want it to end.”
Mary Rozler, who proudly wears a “Twilight Mom” T-shirt, read the books after taking her daughters to the movie. “Now I’m hooked,” she laughs. “After the last book I thought ‘Now what am I gonna do?’ ”
For now, she’s happy to accompany her daughters and their friends –about 13 of them at this point –for an opening day showing of “New Moon.” They already have their tickets.
They’ll bask in this “New Moon” as long as they can –but they won’t have long to wait for “Eclipse.” The third movie has finished filming and will be released on June 30. It won’t come soon enough for fans.
“I dream of the day I can sit on my couch in a bathrobe and watch all four movies,” Mary Rozler says, as three smiling girls surrounding her all bob their heads in agreement.
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