Fans sink teeth into ‘New Moon’ movie debut

Sonora resident Kimberlee Moses was beaming as she waited Thursday night in line to watch “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” a vampire love story that has become the latest global cultural phenomenon.

Supplied with bottled water, a pillow and sweaters, Moses had been waiting outside of Sonora’s Regal Cinema 10 since 1 p.m. Thursday — 11 hours before last night’s midnight screening.

The 22-year-old Columbia College student passed “Twilight” books to those behind her in line as she discussed the movie’s appeal.
 

“I think it has to do with how the character Edward loves the character Bella unconditionally,” she said. “People just crave that.”

Based on a Stephenie Meyer novel, “New Moon” involves vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) dumping his human girlfriend, Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), for her own safety, and she turns to Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) for solace, unaware that he’s a werewolf.

“New Moon” is the sequel to “Twilight,” which was released a year ago.

Diehard fans, such as Moses, attended a 9 p.m. screening of “Twilight” before “New Moon” at midnight.

Questions to theater management were routed to Regal’s corporate offices in Knoxville, Tenn.

Spokesman Robbie Arrington said he couldn’t say how many tickets were sold, but he did say the first screen “sold out pretty rapidly” so four more were added.

“Sales are brisk and we can’t wait to see what the weekend brings,” he said.

Angels Theatre, on Main Street in Angels Camp, also held a midnight showing.

"I’m sure we’ll fill two screens and potentially a third,” manager Jeff Olson said early Thursday evening.

A 176-seat theater was already sold out and a second, 99-seat theater was one-third full before 6 p.m.

“I sold 60 tickets the first hour I was open today,” he said.

Angels Theatre will typically host midnight showings for popular movie franchises, such as “Harry Potter,” “Spiderman” and “Lord of the Rings.”

Olson said he expects “New Moon” to break records.

“Globally, you’re going to see a massive opening for this,” he said.

It’s not just the movies, but the novels they are based upon, that people are fanatical about. 

When asked whether the “Twilight” novels are popular, Susan Russel, owner of Mountain Bookshop in East Sonora, just laughed.

“It’s one of the most popular books to read right now for teenagers on up,” she said.